Mass Effect: Through Fire And Flame
by RequiescaInpache
Summary: Starts at the end mission of the collectors. Join the cocky, arrogant and eccentric Clyde Shepard in his fight to survive the inescapable war with the Reapers. They are coming. Will the galaxy listen to his plea?
1. The Fantastic Commander Shepard

Well, this is my attempt at a fanfic. Finally got enough motivation from Raxus and the like to actually try this. How it goes is completely up to anyone really. Just to get some things out of the way though, I should clarify a few things;

The Shepard I use here, Clyde Shepard is a lot less of the cannon Shepard. He is quite a deal less serious in out-of-combat situation's than a lot of Shepard's While predominately Paragon, the amount of attitude he has you could probably shape him to be a bit Renegade.

Tali will be the romance of choice for Clyde. I thought about it and Tali's stern nature I find would be incredibly amusing with that of Clydes jackass-ness. And Tali, yknow. Tali.

Also, the first chapter is a bit short. I didn't want to deviate too much from the original ending here besides some word choice. The next chapter will be much longer.

One last thing; There are some grammar issues I'm trying to sort out. I suck at editing outside of spellcheck. Sorry!

**Chapter 1: The Fantastic Commander Shepard**

A Man. One man. One brave, incredibly stupid in his own right but crazy man had done what few ever could have even begun to fathom. The collectors, responsible for tens of thousands of lives being pumped into paste were meeting there very untimely end at the hands of a small crew led by this crazy bastard. This said crazy bastard, Clyde Shepard, had done something unthinkable. How many people would know about this accomplishment? Who knows. This was something so insane Shepard wouldn't have mattered if it had only stayed in his circle of other crazy incredibly stupid men and women that had joined him in this destructive war he waged. Clyde Shepard, Hero of the Citadel, Destroyer of the Collectors? It sounded good in theory. Probably looked _amazing_ on paper. How many people would question thi-

"Why am I thinking about that_** now**_?" Shepard said loudly. He had just come too after the fight with that.. thing. The human reaper larvae. It was one hell of a fight and an incredibly awkward one for him Thane and Garrus. Unable to connect with it as much as he'd like to, Shepard mostly stuck to clearing out any reinforcements that came too while Thane and Garrus ruined the creation.

Insane. And the Illusive Man wanted this technology?

Head whirling, he slowly made it onto his knees before he finally started to come to understand the situation he was in. Something large and very heavy was pinning him into the ground. He managed to lift his arms up and push the piece of debris off his back with a bit of a cry of pain. His shoulders were _screaming_. Wincing as he stood up Shepard heard a very loud crack in his ears.

Fucking _ow._

Before he could really process the pain he was in his head whipped. to the side. He could make out the form of Garrus rolled over on his side not moving. Shepard's thoughts immediately ran to the worst case and in his mind most likely scenario. They had fallen a pretty long way down.

"No. No. NO!" Shepard groaned. He started towards Garrus and yanked him over by the shoulders to roll him on his back forcibly. "_Not Garrus, Come on. Someone so tough._"His mind plagued his brain. Garrus was one of his closest friends, more akin to a brother since them reuniting on Omega.

"Easy.. Easy.." A Turians voice echoed throughout the air. Shepard breathed a large sigh of relief. Garrus was alright. Well, maybe not _alright, _but as good as he was going to get at the moment. Shepard's hands reached down and grabbed the Turians, yanking him up to his feet. "Shepard, damn.." Garrus grunted. "Next time, you are not allowed to help me up."

Shepard was about to spit out a retort when he realized they were missing someone. His eyes opening wider, he twirled his body around to see Thane unmoving under more debris.

"_He just met his son again..." Shepard's_ pessimism roared out again as his legs sped towards the fallen Drell. Thanes issue with Kolyat was the last thing he did before the crew got kidnapped. Had he even managed to message him again?

"I hate myself sometimes." Shepard said again out loud to nobody. His hands were already throwing the piece of debris off of Thane.

"Thane, come on." He muttered quietly. He groaned as the piece of debris caved. His hands pushed the metal to the side. His eyes looked down and he saw the form of Thane immediately sit up. Shepard couldn't help but let out a hysterical chuckle. Thane was alright.

He pointed a finger at both of them.

"Don't make a habit out of that." Shepard said scornfully. Before they had time to say anything, Shepard heard his radio yell out the voice of his pilot Joker. Another breath. He wasn't going to be able to breath a sigh of relief ever again after this.

"Shepard? Shepard, do you copy? Come on don't leave me hanging, do you copy?" Joker's panicked voice was one of the best things Shepard had heard all day. A smile managed to work its way over Shepard's face. The most out of place, wrong, and not necessary smile ever but the excitement of managing to keep everyone alive through this mess was starting to build up inside him.

"I'm here Joker." Shepard replied eagerly. "How did the ground team go? Did they make it?"

"All survivors on board commander, were just waiting on you."

Shepard felt a massive knot clinch in his stomach. All survivors? Who had died? Did Tali fall to the heat in the vent after she got out? Did the suits do that? Did Miranda cave under the pressure of leading the fire squad? What happened?

No. They were fine. All of them were completely fine when he left them to hold the line. Nobody had shown any signs of weakness. Shepard's mind was in a panic again. He didn't want Virmire to happen again. He promised all of them they were going to get off this place alive!

"All-" Shepard started but before another word left his mouth a familiar noise of clattering bugs filled his ears. Turning around, his eyes shot open and his mouth dropped as he saw a massive swarm of the collectors bugs swooping after Him, Garrus and Thane. Shepard didn't really know what order to give or what to do at that moment except one thing.

Run. Run _very, very fast._

"Go!" Shepard roared. Turning around, Garrus and then began to jog towards the only exit they saw fast enough.

"_NOT FAST ENOUGH! **GO**!"_ Shepard bellowed. His hands rammed against the shoulders of Thane and Garrus. They got the hint pretty quickly. They both sped off and ran straight towards the only path they saw.

Shepard started behind them, his entire body screaming in physical agony from the ongoing fight that had taken place in the base of the Collectors. A couple of times he thought that his body would cave and he would sink. God knows what the swarm would do to him-

"No!" He cried out. He saw about 3 collectors up ahead of him chasing Thane and Garrus. They had put a crazy amount of distance between them and Shepard.

He was going to _live. _He had way to much waiting for him this time. A crew. A relationship. Everything was waiting for _him!_

Shepard felt his biotics surge. He leaned back and arched his hands forward and his entire body was flung into the collector pack. The one he collided with was rocketed forward into the wall, a sickening thud echoed throughout the chaos. He pulled out his shotgun and blasted one to his left and then brought the end of it with a crack against the skull of the other.

"Too heavy.." Shepard puffed. He threw his shotgun onto the ground. The rest of his weapons soon followed. His feet started moving again. Afraid that the mini skirmish had coated him precious time, new intensity moved in his legs.

Pain. So much Pain.

Shepard heard a familiar voice ring out across the base. Shepard, for some ungodly known reason, smiled at the fact that Harbinger was now speaking.

"Human.. you've changed nothing." The arrogant deep voice sounded out. Shepard cringed a bit, but the smile was winning on his features. He was running for his life without knowing how many people survived because of Joker from an exploding base of death and chaos. _And damn he was smiling._ Smiling his cheesy stupid arrogant smile.

And it was good.

"Your species now has the attention of those infinitely your greater." Harbinger sounded out again. Shepard let out a involuntary chuckle.

"Oh?" Shepard huffed, his legs speeding, getting faster and faster as his desire to live at the moment was insane. Especially with Harbinger talking.

"That what you know as Reapers will be your salvation through destruction."

Shepard saw a large clearing and his eyes widened when he saw the Normandy fly up from the depths. His mind was now strangely positive this time. Forcing him to keep going. He almost wanted to biotic charge the closer Garrus but he realized that he could probably be knocked out for a good long time.

"_**You want to charge Garrus? What is wrong with you?" **_Shepard's mind blared.

The Normandy was getting out of reach. This wasn't going to be pretty. He saw Garrus and Thane make it across with Joker out of the ship. His assault rifle firing at the collectors he knew were behind him that Shepard did not even remotely care about at the time.

"Joker so help me _**god **_if you get to far I will rip you an asshole so deep you'll be considered a galactic disaster!" Shepard screamed in an almost high pitch screech. Joker seemed a bit taken aback. Shepard heard him say something but Shepard couldn't hear him. The collapsing chaos around him was getting worse and worse. He wouldn't be able to just hop, it got too far.

"Damnit!" He yelled. He knew what he would have to do. He ran. Oh god did he run. He got up to as much speed physically a human could probably go. Shepard was going to do the biggest leap of faith of his life.

And it happened.

Shepard crashed against the Normandy, his jaw smashing against the edges and his chest smacking against the armor. He felt blood spew from his lip and the wind knocked out of him at the same time.

He was flailing. The Normandy was moving and he was _not inside the ship. _**TERRIBLE!**

Shepard groaned. He felt his hand finally grab hold of something. Garrus.

A Torrent of bullets were reigning on the Normandy now. Feeling himself heaved into the Normandy he pushed up with all his strength with his other arm.

The door closed.

Shepard had never heard a better sound then that door closing.

He almost thought it was over. For a brief second, everything was stopped. The revelation that he had survived coursed through him and the smile that he had when Harbinger was talking rammed back with force against his features. Until..

"Detonation In 10.. 9... 8..." EDI Had started a countdown. Shepard had forgotten that the entire base was set to blow.

"Yeah I get the gist of it EDI!" Joker yelled in a panicked and annoyed voice. "Hang on!"

Shepard did what he was told. The first thing that he came into contact with came in the form of a Drell. His hands grabbed his jacket and he felt the Normandy speed forwards as far away from the base as they could possibly take it. He could hear the explosions, the fire was roaring across space, engulfing everything it could. It wanted the Normandy too.

And then another surge. Shepard grabbed tighter against the jacket of Thane until there was silence.

Shepard breathed out the biggest sigh of relief ever. He was about to let go before Jokers words raced through his mind.

"Joker! What did you mean survivors? Who didn't make it?" He gripped Thanes jacket even more so, not even looking at the Drell.

"All personnel accounted for, Commander Shepard." EDI Said politely.

"What?"

"Everyone survived the Ordeal, Shepard." Thane said calmly. Before Shepard said anything else, Thanes voice sounded much more amused.

"Now.. I appreciate the gesture, Commander. However I do not think Tali'Zorah will find this very amusing."

Shepard looked down at his hands crushing the fabric of Thanes jacket.

"Joker, you bastard!" Shepard said against a laugh. A hearty, relief laugh.

"I didn't have time to check! I didn't think—"

"I know!" Shepard yelled. The realization had just dawned on him. They had all made it out alive. The collectors base was gone, the threat of humans being turned into goo and turned into another Reaper was gone.

The worries of the world seemed to leave Shepard's face. All the complaining his mind did seemed to cease and forget. The pain in his body seemed to disappear. Rushed with an insane amount of Adrenaline, Shepard's hands crunched into fists. His hands coming together under his face. He pressed it against them. They had won.

"We WON!" He yelled. He stood up and his fists raised in the air. "Wait.." He said quickly. "How damaged is the Normandy?"

"The upgrades to the Normandy's armor and shields have prevented any critical disasters, Shepard. However, it is highly recommended we stop at the Citadel and repair all breaches from the collector machinery we suffered coming to the base and other problems." EDI's synthesized voice said. Shepard smiled.

"Crew gets to work with the quickness. We'll decide to do with the Citadel. Celebration? I think so. I _demand_ so." He said with a laugh.

"The Illusive Man wishes to speak with you, commander." Joker said smugly. "Probably pissed you blew up his property."

"_Awesome._ I cannot wait to talk to that smug shit about this. Citadel on the double." Shepard said sternly with a pang of sarcasm. "Championship celebration waiting for us Joker. I cannot wait to sink my teeth into.. well, anything."

"Yes sir!" Joker mocked. "Good to see you always remain professional."

"Thane. I think it would be best for both of us if nobody ever figured out that I gripped your jacket into submission. I almost want to make it an order." Shepard said turning towards the Drell. If Thane had eyebrows, he knew that they would be raised.

"Do not worry Shepard." Thane said. "I won't reveal anything about your, um, strong grip to Tali'Zorah."

Shepard swore he could see a smile etched across his features. He found it hard a lot of the time to tell what Thane was thinking. Ever. He always seemed either too serious or always seemed to be laughing at him. More likely the first one. Thane didn't seem like the type to laugh. Interesting guy though.

Shepard turned towards a cheering crew. All of them pausing to clap there hands towards Shepard as he made his way down the bridge towards the com room. Shepard tried to pretend that he didn't hear it. Wouldn't be right for a commander to be egotistical at this situation.

Shepard was not like other commanders.

Laughing, he turned around, his face looking mostly at the galaxy map. He briefly raised his arms over his head. He couldn't help it this time.. his crew, the ones just a bit ago who were trapped in those pods ready to be processed were now cheering at him. So many emotions were running through him at the moment. Anger at the Illusive Man, Joy that they had survived and an insane amount of Relief.

"Thank you, everybody." He said over the cheers. "I'm here all night. Or, well, forever in your case. Lucky for you."

"Anyways, Have to go get yelled at. We're heading to the Citadel people, Captains orders to go out and live a bit when we get there."

It had been no secret that Shepard did not like The Illusive Man. Shepard had been livid when they sent them to the abandoned collector ship. He almost wanted to fire all the people he talked to that said they liked working with Cerberus. Illusive Man sending him and his friends into possible death because he didn't want to tip them off. Garbage.

Although, Shepard knew, he had not given Illusive Man any kindness what-so-ever. Shepard had been his normal jackass self and loved trying to see if he could get rouses out of the old man. He was let down time after time though, he seemed fairly stable unfortunately. Shepard never got any backtalk or arrogance that he was expecting. Shepard really had to give it to the old man, Shepard could barely handle his own bullshit half the time.

Shepard was going to enjoy this. He had a raging Illusive Man waiting to talk to him, An insane adrenaline high and an insane ego boost. Illusive man really should **not **have asked to talk to him.

"_This place looks like shit." _Shepard mused. The place looked like his cabin did after he let Mordin try and _"Modify"_ the fish tank to drop fish food automatically.

Never again.

Shepard took in a deep breath and put on the biggest smile he could force and stepped into the device. A few seconds later he was looking at a very unamused Illusive Man.

"I really need to get a place up here." Shepard said politely.

"Clyde, You are making a habit of costing me more than time and money." Illusive man said angrily. His blue eyes bore holes into Shepard. He swore that he was trying to rip his heart out with his gaze.

He was pretty mad.

"I'm sorry, I can't quite hear you. I get a ton of bullshit from this line." Shepard mused.

"Don't try my patience, Clyde-

"Who said you could use my first name?" Shepard asked curiously.

"The technology from that base could have done wonders for humanity. The reapers and beyond." Illusive Man continued like he didn't even hear him.

"Human dominance, Aye?" Shepard said questioningly. His hands slipped behind his back. "Sounds like just Cerberus dominance to me."

The amusement in his eyes was not helping the situation. Shepard was confident. He had just done the unthinkable and this asshole was not going to take away his good mood. He worked his ass off and this was what he got? Shit from this old nut because he didn't return him a bonus paycheck after doing the job he asked him?

"Strength for Cerberus is strength for every human. Cerberus is humanity. I should have known you'd choke on the hard decisions." Illusive Man spat at him. Now insults?

"Really now? I wasn't aware of that. Pretty sure most humans consider Cerberus as trashy as the rest of the galaxy. You should make your opinions more widely known." Shepard said coldly. His eyes narrowed at the Illusive Man.

"Some people need protecting, Shepard. Even from themselves. I figured you of all people would know that." Illusive Man spat.

"You wish to protect the species you wish to better from _themselves?_ That is the biggest load of shit I've ever heard." Shepard said airily. He had an awful tendency to move. He didn't like standing still, so his legs began to move. Stepping forward, then back, then to the side all in a very uneven pattern.

"You have gone far enough to cross me Shepard. All I've wanted was to better humanity, when I have ever hid that? I have one goal; To better our species. I brought you back from the dead for that reason. And this is how you repay me? Why didn't I see this coming." Illusive Man shot back at him.

"I did exactly what you wanted, hate to break it to you before you start to pull out the poor me bullshit. The collectors are gone, humanity is safe for now. What more did you want? You wanted me to gift wrap you the means to become the next Reapers? Are you insane?" Shepard said hysterically. This man was serious! He couldn't believe it. He honestly wanted to pull this crap out on him because of the people he wanted dead's _base_?

"Don't you start talking like I owe you, Shepard! Humanity needed that base-"

"Humanity doesn't need some old fuck telling them what to expect and believe. Any one of these people on my ship; If you had to kill them for the _possibility _of it bettering humanity, you would do it a heartbeat. Humanity doesn't need a leader like that. Humanity needs a leader who would never kill someone loyal for there goals. Someone with dark hair and amazing good looks." Shepard said.

Shepard's smile was still visable. His chest was breathing a little harder, unfortunately that last part did make him a bit mad, but he couldn't help all of it. Sometimes even the clown got mad.

"How much of your crap have I lived with here. I give you it, you brought me back to life. I'm grateful, but are you honestly surprised by this? Of course I wouldn't give you that base and you are completely out of your mind to have even asked me that, and even stupider to get mad at it. Come on. Don't be a fool. " Shepard said with a bit of a shrug. His smile ever present, he turned around and waved his hand in the air.

"Gotta hand it to you Illusive Man, been quite awhile since I've cared about pissing someone off so much."

"Don't turn your back-" Illusive had started but Shepard could not hear. Shepards smile did not fade. His adrenaline didn't disappear like he thought it might have by that little confrontation. Grinning broadly, reaching his hands to the back of his head he let out a quick sigh before running full steam back to the bridge.

He turned a corner to see Kelly staring at him. Kellys eyes seemed to be moistened, her hands shaking slightly as she started to move towards him. Shepard was happy, She had been very helpful during the mission. Really friendly too. He still remembered the amusing conversation when she told him her opinion on Tail's feelings for him.

"Something wrong, Kelly?" He said curiously.

"I..." She started, but a cough and a hiccup escaped her before she managed to finish what she was going to say. Before Shepard could make a joke about her being sick, she had thrown herself onto him. He hadn't seen this coming and he almost fell. His right leg hit air and he stumbled backwards a few feet before looking down at her fuming.

"You _**Know**_." He said mock-angry. "If I had fell down and smashed my head against the floor and _**died**_, what would you have done?"

Kelly looked up with a frown on her face. Shepard immediately panicked. He didn't want to actually make her upset! Was she.. emotionally unstable from being trapped by the collectors? An emotionally unstable therapist. Great.

"I'm.. sorry commander.. I-" She stammered but another hiccup and a sob escaped her. Her arms were thoroughly wrapped around his body. Shepard turned around a couple of times to make sure a certain someone wasn't watching this.

"I was joking, Kelly." He said with a small roll of his eyes. "I told you I'd catch you, didn't I?" He said with a shrug of his shoulders. Kelly grinned a weak smile.

"No, actually, I think you joked about how you'd let me fall. I thought you were serious then too." She said with a bit of a laugh, tears still raining down her features. Shepard cocked an eyebrow.

"Oh. That doesn't sound like me at all! That's fucked up." He chuckled.

"You know, I think a certain mechanist would disembowel you if she saw this though. So.." Shepard said quickly. Immediately she let go, her head quickly looking at the empty hallways to make sure Tali wasn't there. Shepard laughed at her expensive before slowly turning around.

"So..." He said turning around. He was facing an empty hallway. "This.. is what they mean by Cloud 9."

"What do you mean, sir?" Kelly asked with a somber voice, her hands coming up to wipe her eyes.

"My body is screaming. I have a huge headache, my nerves are rattled and I'm going to have to ask a bunch of good people soon if they are going to stay on this vessel or continue working with Cerberus.. and I don't care. I feel.. so.." He cut himself off, looking down at his hands. He scrunched them into fists for what felt like the hundredth time today.

"EDI. Pull up the intercom. Need to say something."

"Right away, Shepard." EDI's hologram popped up briefly before he heard the noise signaling the intercom was indeed open.

He knew what was going on. The entire crew had stopped doing what they were doing. Everyone could hear the intercom was opened. Garrus, Grunt, Tali, Miranda, Jacob, Mordin, Thane, Legion and Samara were all waiting for their Commander to make some big announcement. To make some large announcement regarding their plans for the reapers or something huge. Shepard had no such plans, oh no. If they knew him at all...

"Firstly.." He said, slowly walking towards the galaxy map. His voice sounded slightly strained. He was struggling to not shout and start singing into the intercom. They had done it. To think.. Oh why was he thinking about that _again? _It was obvious to them all now. He just..

"Well.." He said, leaning his back against one of the rails leading up to the galaxy map. "I would like to say a couple things."

"I would like to say that really you are all gossip whores. their have been.. certain rumors above the ship that have come to my attention.. About me and a certain quarian on the ship." He said with a bit of playful spite in his voice. The crew around him laughed. Shepard was honestly talking like nothing had ever happened.

"You get em, Shepard!"

"Let us know whats under the suit eh?"

"I wonder If cough medicine would be a good present for you."

Shepard let out a chuckle and then a sigh.

"Yes. Very funny everyone. I am here to dispel these rumors that me and Tali'Zorah vas Normandy are in a relationship." He said. Everyone seemed to be rather shocked and taken aback. That was around the ship as common knowledge. Immediately, Shepard heard rumors start right away. He could hear them wondering what had happened or if anyone knew. Shepard's grin grew wider.

"However, on a completely unrelated note, Tali should immediately come up to the Captains Quarters for.. ahem. Immediate suit repair and quarian study.. for.. academic purposes, of course."

The crew around him had started again. Everyone laughed. Kelly seemed to be doubling over, her hands coming to her sides. Shepard couldn't even help but laugh. Somewhere, Shepard was sure he was being called a bosh'tet repeatedly.

"I can hear you blushing from here." He said once more. Another jeer.

"You are so mean to that poor girl." Kelly called over to him.

"Besides that..their is just.. one thing."

The room was silent. The tension was rising. Shepard had a small reputation for making everything over-climatic and a bit more over-the-top than necessary. Shepard's hands reached down his body. His fists ready to punch the air.

His head turned around to glance at the crew on the Combat Center part of the ship. Many beaming faces, many grins and happy faces. Many lives. Many lives that would have otherwise been turned into liquid for something horrible. Kelly looked at him still, a sad smile on her face, her hands clasped together below her stomach.

The amazingly happy and fantastic feelings he had earlier all seemed to explode from his body in an instant.

"WE DID IT!"


	2. State of Mind

The second chapter! I hope I did a better job self-editing this time. I'm glad everyone really likes Clyde, hes really good fun to write.

This has some explanation on what kind of fighter he's going to be. Warning: Random science content! Some Tali/Shepard. No action yet. Hope you all enjoy the arrogance that is Clyde Shepard!

Edit: Also, I should say and warn; I am a god bad self editor. I read it over quite a lot, and I can never seem to find enough. It's frustrating as hell. Sorry in advance!

_**Chapter 2: State of Mind **_

No lights but the dancing glow of the aquarium. The fish Shepard had bought floating seamlessly in the water like nothing had ever happened in the ship. Like it hadn't just been through the fire and escaped. Nope, the fish seemed completely content to simply float. Dancing in the blue void, probably unaware they were even in a tank. Just there because Shepard decided to buy some fish one day at the Citadel. Was he getting sentimental about fish now?

Shepard let out a small laugh, sitting on his bed with his elbows resting on his thighs, arms drooped in between his legs with his head down slightly, glancing at the floor that the dancing blue light of the aquarium lit up.. His black hair that he had let grow way to long slung over his eyes impairing his vision slightly.

It was late. Really, really late. Shepard had finally been convinced to go to his cabin to rest and of course, it didn't work, it never worked. Shepard had been up and about the entire time he was in his cabin, too energy ridden to sleep. He could feel the pain and fatigue drag his body to the floor with every step and with every word he spoke, but his mind told him to stay awake just so he could still feel the euphoria.

He had been born on Earth with little no family.

He was the only one out of amazing men and women to survive Akuze.

He had _died. _

Yet he was so positive and not serious at all, many people wondered if he could be considered insane.

Shepard let out a groan and stood up, his hands reaching to the roof as he felt his bones shift and his muscles tense. Letting out a sigh of relief, he let them drop and slump to his side before clapping them together. He couldn't sleep, it wasn't going to happen. Yet there was probably nobody awake he'd like to talk to currently. Maybe he could go wake up Tali and convince her to spend the night up in his Cabin.

"She's probably sick." He muttered disappointingly.

Shepard couldn't help but let his cocky grin spread across his face when he remembered exactly why she would be sick. He really wish he could drift into memories and relive them like Thane could. It would be an amazing thing to do right now.

Shepard laughed a bit. More memories would come, hopefully _many_ more like the ones he had experienced earlier.

Might as well go see if anyone was awake. He wasn't getting anything done here, and as much as he hated being serious, working always helped him. Maybe he could find something to do in that department. They wouldn't be docking at the Citadel for awhile and he already knew what he was going to do first for the upcoming fight against the Reapers. What he needed to do first. Hopefully his tirade against the Admirals back during Tali's treason trial wouldn't come back to bite him.

Quickly checking to see if he had any new messages, he headed towards the elevator. Where would he go first? Jacob was definitely asleep. Mordin never slept, odds are he was still awake. He could go see what he was up to.

He pressed the button to head down to the Combat center of the Normandy, his arms instinctively crossing over just underneath his chest, his legs crossing over each other with his head leaned down. He always went into that position when he was tired and could lean on something.

Slowly moving outside of the elevator swinging his legs in a wide arc and waving to a few members of the crew he saw that were also still awake he gingerly moved over to Mordins lab. Sure enough, the salarian singer was working away in the same position as he always was.

"You know.." Shepard said curiously. "I haven't worked with many Salarians Mordin, but I'm pretty sure you guys need to sleep."

"No time. Reapers coming. Will rest when I finish this. Can't always stay awake. Inefficient working over long periods of time. Should say the same to you." Mordin said, stopping the rapid typing just to point a finger at Shepard.

"Difference, Mordin. I cannot possibly become inefficient. Not in my nature. You on the other hand.. well, lets just say I really hope you never get any more ideas for my Cabin." Shepard said with a small shrug. He leaned next to the upgrade terminal.

"Wasn't inefficient. Automatic fish feeder worked perfectly. Just.. possible design flaws." Mordin huffed.

Shepard let out a small chuckle. Mordin never did like it when you questioned his experiments.

"Possible design flaws? I would have rather slept on the collector base. The aquarium screamed at me. Have you ever had a fish tank scream at you?" Shepard said with a cocked eyebrow.

"Didn't scream. Scream high pitched noise normally expressing emotion. Noise was simply too many parts scratching against each other. Design flaw." Mordin said pointedly.

"Sure, it sucked. That is a pretty large design flaw, I agree." Shepard laughed.

"Good. Anyways, wanted to talk to you about scan results. Amazing and frightening discovery. Possible breakthrough with last results." Mordin said with obvious eagerness.

"Wait, thats what you were working on?"

"Was going to show you tomorrow. Good as time as any." Mordin said with a smile.

Shepard hated it when Mordin smiled.

The terminal Mordin was typing on turned blue. A picture of a rather peculiar object floated around in an endless circle. Mordin waved one three fingered hand over for Shepard to come stand beside him. Nodding, Shepard moved off the wall, his hands slinking into his pockets before standing beside the scientist.

Not too long after Mordin had seen Shepard fight had he requested multiple scans of his amps, blood samples, urine samples and all sorts of things. Mordin was very intrigued by the nature of Shepards biotics. Mordin had explained it to him before. His biotics seemed more.. explosive than normal with the range on the abilities rather low. Mordin explained it to him that it was like the biotics were denser than normal.

"Explained before. Cerberus inserted prototype amp building you. Understand that your biotics were different before death correct?" Mordin asked.

"Yeah, nothing like how they are now." Shepard said nodding. "It's like all the range I had before was condensed."

"Precisely." Mordin said. "Normal upgraded amps did this but not to your extent. Ability to charge not too uncommon is most trained Vanguards. Commonly found in amps that condense biotic power. Your amp different. Condenses biotics incredibly. Condenses every aspect. Ability to throw outside of range impossible. Ability to destroy outside of range..." Mordins eyes closed and he took a deep breath. "Impossible."

Shepards eyebrows were raised slightly, his face cringing. One of his hands left his pockets to rub the back of his neck slightly. However, Shepard knew this already. In less detail, sure, but he knew he was different from most other Vanguards.

"Fascinating, Mordin, but we already knew this didn't we? I mean it's not like I suddenly lost the ability to hit things with biotics at a certain range." Shepard said curiously. "Whats the breakthrough here?"

"Was getting to that. First, must reveal. Impossible to revert change. Biotic density too great. Further tampering to spread biotics may cause severe brain damage and reduce combat effectiveness."

"Brain damage tends to do that." Shepard sighed. Looking over at Mordin, he could have swore he was enjoying this. His smile still had never left his face. Shepard was rather disappointed. Mordin had kind of gotten his hopes up before when these tests had started that he would be able to fight at a range again. While he didn't mind getting in faces and using his locust when he had to, it wasn't good for his health.

"However, combat effectiveness potential at close range extraordinary. Not yet tapped into all potential biotic power. Must condense biotics further. Barrier could be exactly 252.56% stronger. Biotic throws and field pushes from inside your range impossible to predict possible maximum velocity." Mordin explained excitedly.

Shepards inner excitement started to grow. His face was rattled with intense curiosity. He probably looked like he was sharing Mordins enthusiasm.

"Wait, wait. Slow down here.." Shepard said, his hands coming up. "How does that work? I thought condensing the biotics was a bad thing."

"No. Never meant it to be bad thing. Just explained possible drawbacks. Possibilities endless. Need more study of course. Several things must be done."

"So.." Shepard said slowly. "What you're saying is.. If we condense the biotics further more, I could turn into something..." Shepards speech trailed off. "

"Impossible to predict total outcome of further condensing. Could possibly hemorrhage brain, of course. Always a risk when tampering biotics further than designed."Mordin explained eagerly.

"How would you do this?" Shepard asked curiously.

"Would require surgery. Give me time to prepare. Find valuable information on different biotic tampering. Have Miranda send me information about amp." Mordin said.

"Wow. I.. uh, wow. Thanks Mordin.. this.. Hah. I hope for all of your sakes this doesn't work. I'm already way to cocky as it is. You guys won't ever be able to shut me up."

"Will find a way to tamper with that to."

"Great. So help me god Mordin, if I wake up and I have an extra toe or finger I'm probably going to have Legion dissect you."

"Possible design flaws, Shepard."

"I'm going to get you back Mordin, don't worry. I'm going to spill something on you and then call it a design flaw in your attire." Shepard moved towards Mordin, standing beside him with his arms crossed glancing down at the numerous charts and research Mordin had done.

"So how dangerous are we talking here?"

"Surgical death percentage negligible. Complications with over density and problems after surgery..." Mordin took a deep breath again. "Undetermined."

"I'm curious, Mordin. What is it about my amp that makes this possible?" Shepard moved a hand to the back of his head.

"Glad you asked." Mordin typed a few things on the terminal. The object that was spinning on the hologram stopped and then split apart, a small profile on each layer appearing underneath each individual part.

"Vanguard amp condenses biotic power similar to much technology. When air compressed and released , massive force unearthed. Vanguard amp does same thing with biotic power. Biotically charging very uncomplicated. Condense, release." Mordin explained.

"Okay, so what is it about my amp?"

"Your amp condenses biotic power to very high levels. Not just condensing biotic power when charging. Condenses constantly. Biotic power for you unnaturally high for human to start with. Prototype amp makes results frightening."

"So basically I always have this.. condensed." Shepard clasped his hands together. "Energy that most vanguards use to charge."

"Precisely. Rapid biotic charges normally impossible. Must re-pressurize biotics after every expulsion of energy. Knew your amp was different when I saw a 30% difference and growing in the time lapses between biotic charges."

Shepard understood. He nodded. Silently wishing all science could be this interesting, he moved his forearms onto the table and leaned.

"So.. the reason I can't throw people from the distance Samara or Jack could is because my biotics are.." Shepard didn't really know what to say. Luckily, Mordins eagerness to explain this discovery overcompensated him.

"Restricted, yes. Prototype amp condenses biotic power so much anything outside certain range impossible. Results from inside range explosive."

"What kind of power increase are we talking here?"

Mordin tapped a few things on the terminal. The object was replaced with a glowing blue orb that seemed to be constantly pulsing.

"Power not 100% determined. Biotic power beyond what you have scales exponentially. Range of biotics will be even smaller. Haven't had a chance to test power at this magnitude. Will need to study more."

"This sounds way to good. Got me all excited!" Shepard said matching Mordins eagerness. His hand reached out and claped him on the shoulder with quite a bit of force.

"I don't want my range to be to small, okay?" Shepard said with a laugh before turning out of the lab.

"Estimated 10 to 15 foot range at the lowest. Still unsure. Will study." Mordin said with a nod. Shepard could have swore that he sensed a mild annoyance under his voice. He was starting to turn into the one he knew and got back to work.

"I'll leave you to work. Get some sleep, Aye?"

"Unlikely!" Mordin yelled.

Shepard rolled his eyes as he left the lab. His confidence was soaring right now. Shepard never really lacked any confidence. Certainly not. Thankfully he figured his crew liked him enough to oversee his bull. Most of the time at least. Miranda was always way to serious and scolded him whenever she got the chance when he was being overly confident or rude to people.

He was rude to _everyone, _except his crew.

And sometimes even his crew.

He decided that he was going to go see if Miranda was awake. If she wasn't, he would probably wake her up. He really did want her to get those amp blueprints over to Mordin. He couldn't wait to try this out. The look on Garrus's face when they spared when suddenly he launched him across the ring would be priceless. Last time they spared Garrus had gotten the best of him. Shepard had promptly blamed it on a number of things.

Garrus cheating.

Fatigue.

Mostly Garrus cheating.

They had a good laugh about it after of course. Shepard had gotten fairly close with Garrus after the whole Sidonis incident. He really hoped Sidonis would come back to help him with the fight against the Reapers. He didn't really know how a guy haunted by ghosts to the point of barely being.. a being, could help him fight them, but Shepard didn't really care. Didn't need that much help.

Could at least pretend he was helping. Give him a shiny star at the end of it.

The elevator came to a sudden halt as he got to the crews quarters. He initially checked to see of Kasumi was awake, but she was happily out-cold on her couch that she had taken home too. He turned around and headed towards Mirandas office, deciding not to disturb anyone else. He was sure Samara was awake and so was Thane, but they were normally meditating. After the whole ordeal he probably should let them go.

He jogged over to the door of Mirandas office and stood standing on the tips of his toes waiting for the door to open, eagerly sprinting in only to see Miranda asleep at her terminal. Shepard rolled his eyes unable to contain the amusement. She didn't even get to a sleeper pod before she went out? Yeesh, how lazy.

"Miranda." He said quietly, moving beside her and grinning. He reached down and put a hand on her shoulder and shook her gently. No response.

"Miraaanda." He said slightly louder and shaking a little harder. Still nothing.

Was she dead or something? Jesus.

"_**Miranda!"**_ He boomed. The woman started up and instantly starting typing at the terminal for a few seconds before comprehending her situation. Shepard was grinning, one eyebrow raised looking down at her in pure amusement.

"Sleeping on the job now?" Shepard asked.

"I... I'm sorry commander." Miranda said with a shake of her head. "It wont happen again."

"Go get some sleep. Seriously. Why are you even here? I could yell at you for all sorts of reasons right now but I only feel like making fun of you for being too lazy." Shepard joked.

"I'd prefer it if you yelled, Commander. Your jokes are awful." She said with a lazy sigh, her hands coming over to wipe her eyes clean. She looked up at him with her sour face like always like it was his fault she had fallen asleep.

"That hurts, Boobs- I mean, Miranda." He said quickly running over to the other side of the desk before she got any ideas to slap him.

"What do you need, commander?" Miranda asked tiredly. Still professional as always. Can't even go with a simple boob joke. How sour.

"Would you believe it if I said I came down for your loving personality?" Shepard asked.

"Commander." Miranda scolded.

"It's Shepard, By the way. Stop calling me that, makes me feel way to professional." Shepard said with a wave of his hand. "Anyways, you know that amp you guys stuck in my brain? I need you to send the blueprints of it to Mordin."

"Thats... whats wrong with it Shepard?" Miranda asked. Shepard couldn't help but smile. She actually managed to call him Shepard.

Progress!

"Nothing wrong with it. Not really, anyways. Mordins gonna need to do some surgery on me though. Possible upgrades and tweaks and the like, you know. Could hemorrhage my brain, apparently. Rather would not let that happen. You guys are fucked if I die.. again." Shepard said with a shrug.

"Wait, your letting Mordin do surgery on you? Does he know about all the cyber-"

"Miranda."

"I'm serious, Shepard. Thats dangerous, especially with all the synthetic implants and the changes to your body. That could cause so many problems, Shepard-

"Miranda."

"Brain hemorrhaging, tweaking could merge the biotics with the synthetics and cause it to melt. Possible cancerous tumors, bone degeneration-"

"_Miranda." _Shepard said sternly.

Miranda stopped her rant on Shepard to pause and then look at him. Shepard looked down at her with a fairly amused but confident face. His smile warm and welcoming as though trying to soften her up with faces rather than reason on why he won't die.

"I killed sovereign, a reaper larvae and the collectors. Do you really think I'm going to die by a damn syringe?" Shepard asked.

"I don't see how that prevents anything I mentioned. If you-

"_Miranda._"

"Can't I at least talk to Mordin about this? I mean I did kind of do all this you know." Miranda said irritably. Shepard knew he was getting on her nerves now. Waking up a woman like this was already asking for dangerous things to happen. Undermining her authority and worth was probably asking for a female revolution.

"Okay. You can talk to Mordin. _After _you give him the data."

"Shepard-"

"Please do not make me pull out the 'It's an order' card here. I hate it when I have to do that." Shepard looked at her with a pout in his face trying desperately to suppress a grin.

Miranda let out a heavy defeated sigh and looked up at him with a stern look that Shepard had seen all to often from her. Shepard starting backing up, pointing at her with both hands and letting out a laugh.

"Thanks! You're the best." He said happily, turning out of the office with a small jump.

"Don't think I didn't hear that boob crack you dog!" Miranda called out to him. Shepard, laughing, practically leaped into the elevator with emphasis, his hands drumming against the walls of the elevator synced with a song in his head.

This wasn't turning out to be a bad idea after all. With all this and the upcoming R&R at the Citadel Shepard was in a fairly good mood. Pessimism be damned, if he didn't die on the surgical table he was going to thoroughly enjoy punching something with enough force to put a crater in the ground. The idea in his head sent a excited shiver through his hands.

"Engineering Bay then sleep" he muttered before pressing the button down to the last floor of the Normandy. If Tali wasn't awake he was going to have to drag her to his bed.

She had slept in his lounge only a few times so far. The one at the forefront of his mind was after the trip to Tuchanka dealing with Mordin and Grunts issues on the planet. He had finally rid that annoying but cute doubt from Tali's mind that they shouldn't be together and they just hung out and did some fun stuff with a camera before retiring to sleep. He was glad that she finally took something for herself, Shepard didn't mind being selfish here. He felt like he was just unfair to the world sometimes. Killed the bad guys and got the girl in the same day.

Life was good.

Even if a little sore.

The elevator for the third time came to a stop and Shepard turned around not even beginning to think who he wanted to see here. Grunt was probably like how he was when they first came back, difference being that Grunts never wore off. Something told him that going to talk to a fired up krogan about how many bad guys they killed may end up resulting in a very large headache.

Could be one way for him to get knocked out if he needed some sleep.

He might need it, after the Citadel Liara wanted him to come see her. He could not wait to tell her how he was with Tali now. Liara had always expressed some form of interest in hin on the original Normandy, but he chose not to react on it. She was young.. or, young in Asari standards from what she told him at least. Counted. She had her own goals. Especially at the time when she was so interested in the Protheans and at the time Shepard was a giant flagship for anything regarding the ancient lifeforms.

"Hey Liara, How are yah doing? My heart feels like it's going to beat out of my chest whenever I see a quarian. You remember Tali, Right?" Shepard said to himself.

"_Of course I do, Shepard. And you should be ashamed, taking advantage of that poor girl I hope when you guys finally do the deed she grows tentacles and rips your eyes out of your face you enviro suit loving freak._" Shepard said in a mock-whisper tone.

"Why Liara? What ever did I do to deserve such massive face mutilation?" Shepard let out a noise of frustration. Maybe it would be better if she didn't know. Ever.

"_Much better idea."_ Shepard thought to himself.

Shepard saw Kenneth and Gabby looking towards each other, talking quietly. Shepard forced himself to not eavesdrop on the two of them. Why? Well, Kenneth looked like he was going to explode he looked so serious. Kenneth never looked serious. Gabby? She looked like she was going to cry. He could hear her voice raise slightly but dip back down. That was indeed way to private of a conversation for him to get involved in. At least for now. He would definitely have to come back down to see what was going on.

Or...

"Tali!" He said excitedly. His Quarian girlfriend working furiously over the terminal as though she was absorbed in it. He sprinted over, grinning and wrapping an arm over her waist before she had a chance to protest, a small but audible squeak of shock when she was suddenly removed from her focus.

"Shepard you- I told you to sleep!" She asked admist a small bit of laughter and to her surprise a giggle that escaped her, still trying to sound stern. She still wasn't amused apparently. Shepard figured this would happen. He had told her that he was going to rest up the ass kicking he got and get some much needed rest.

"I thought you'd be asleep." He said gingerly, his other arm coming to meet his hand behind the small of her back. "I don't hear you giggle that much. I need to surprise you more often."

Tali wasn't as amused after she finally had a chance to grasp the fact that Shepard wasn't sleeping

"I could same the same to you, Shepard." She said crossly. Her arms came over her chest, hooking together, glaring at him fiercely. She didn't move into him like he thought she might have. Although she showed no real resistance to the embrace she leaned back away from him, looking up to peer into his eyes like he had just got caught stealing something.

Shepard couldn't help but smile, still. Hugging her always made him feel better even if he was really depressed. She did seem rather cross with him, but he could tell she was smiling on the inside of her visor. He leaned into the visor and looked at her seriously.

"Didn't I tell you to call me Clyde?"

"Didn't I tell _you _that you needed rest?" She countered.

"I couldn't sleep."

"Well, that much is obvious."

"I came to get you. Come." He said, moving backwards, his hands wrapping themselves around there 3 digits and pulling her slowly towards him. She resisted, pulling back slowly, shaking her head and moving back towards the opened terminal.

"There is a lot to do, Shep-

"_**Clyde."**_ He said annoyed.

"She-... Clyde." She let the word roll over her tongue slowly as though it was a different language. "I.. I've got a lot to do, Clyde. The engine really needs cleaning and they've been talking like that forever." Her voice carried a tang of sadness to it in between the stern anger she forced at him.

Not how this was going to work.

"I am far more important than the engine right now, Tali." He said amusingly. She looked up at him, her head cocked to the side slightly.

"Don't be so full of yourself." She said a little more playfully, a smack coming down on his hand.

"Can't help it, it's part of the package you got when you decided you liked me. That and rugged good looks."

Tali rolled her eyes at this, shaking her head and laughing slightly but was cut off shortly after it began. Shepards eyed went from adoration to concerned before the cough ended.

"Sorry.. Just a little sick." Tali said, another cough escaping her lips.

"Sick? What happened?" He said. He knew full well why she was sick and he had suspected as much before he came down here. It was a good jog of the memory though.

She looked away from him, glancing over at Gabby and Kenneth still talking like they weren't even here. She looked at the ground for a few seconds before looking up back up at him, her bright eyes shining through her visor.

"_You_ happened." She said embarrassed She sank into his chest a little, her arms coming around him and giving him a small squeeze. "I.. It's nothing. Just a cough and a fever. I don't want to think about it so I just.."

"Tali." He said sternly. His arms snaked over her again and pressed her into him in a tender hug, squeezing her softly and smiling down at her with a smile she would be the only one to see. She felt her hands tighten slightly at his back. "You can take a few hours off. Now come on." While he said this, his hands had reached up and held her upper arms.

"Shepa- I mean, Clyde, I can't. I really-" Her stern anger was starting to fade. Even when he was at his rudest she always found it hard to stay mad. Before Shepard gave it time to resurface, his finger came up and pressed against the flashing light on her helmet and pressed against it.

"Tali. Shut up." He said smirking.

"Wha- Don't say that to me you.. you _bosh'tet!_ What guy tells his girlfriend to shut up?" She said with mock-anger. A playful slap echoed across his chest.

"The best kind."

"Oh? How do you figure that?" She asked teasingly.

"Well, I'm the best. Therefor the best says it. Logic in my favor."

Shepard pulled her back with him, dragging her by the upper arms. Her resistance didn't seem to be very strong this time. Shepard couldn't help but laugh but then loudly called out over her shoulder;

"**Hey! **Fix your bullshit. I'm stealing Tali for a few hours!" He yelled.

"Clyde!" She said fiercely. She turned around to make sure that Ken and Gabby hadn't stopped before being pulled again.

"What?" He said with a laugh. He was pulling her faster now. They weren't very far from the elevator. One arm let go just fast enough to press the button and open the door for them, pulling her inside and hitting the button to go back up to his room. "Come on, It'll be fun. We can just.. be together. And talk about how amazing you look under that suit."

A 3 digit hand smacked across his cheek, enticing him to emit a cry of pain and amusement mixture. He closed his left eye, slowly turning his face back to face the angry quarian woman.

"Clyde! You _bosh'tet!" _She said embarrassingly, a couple more smacks coming down on his left arm as he cried out in mock-pain.

"Ow, ow! What? Am I not allowed complimenting what I saw?" He said shocked. He reached his hands up and caught the constantly moving hands, pulling the woman behind them into him for a one armed hug with his left arm, his right holding his weight on the rail of the elevator.

"It's not that.." She sighed. Her hands struggled before a second before she sank into his form, a happy of content leaving her lips.

"It's just embarrassing.. and you always embarrass me. I had so many questions from Kasumi when you .. said that announcement across the ship today.. I don't know. I've never had so many people wonder about my opinion about something before." She said helplessly.

"Your opinion of me?"

"Everyone wanted to know.. you know.. how you were when it was just me and you, if you were the same guy. I didn't really know what to say." Tali admitted.

The elevator stopped, opening the door to a small hallway and then another door leading to his room. Suddenly, he reached down, scooping her back into one arm and her legs in another, a yelp leaving her lips as she suddenly found herself at the mercy of Shepard.

Shepard started to run with her, a small scream echoing throughout the loft as he suddenly laid her on his bed, grinning broadly down at her, his hands coming down and pinning her arms to the bed.

"And what did you say?" He asked finally.

"That you are the _same, stupid __**bosh'tet**_ that everyone knows!" Tali said amidst a sea of laughter echoing throughout his room, his own mixed in with it.

"What did you actually say?" He said curiously, cocking his head to the side to look at her.

"I.. said that you are the most amazing, loveable man I have ever met.. " She said sincerely. He let his hands fall off her arms, one of her hands coming up and dancing across his right cheek. Shepard moved one of his hands and pressed his against hers.

"You know what?" Shepard said, leaning down so that his face was only inches from her visor.

"Mmm?"

"I would say the same thing."

"What, that I'm an amazing loveable man? That's a bit extreme." Tali said playfully. Shepard looked at her dumbfounded for a moment before rolling onto his side, laughing into a pillow.

"I walked into that one." He said pouting. "You are so mean to me."

Tali responded by closing any distance they had on the bed, snuggling up to him as close as she could pushing her body into his chest, her head coming down on the same pillow he was laying on. Shepard responded by moving one of his hands down her arm and towards her hips, giving a tender squeeze. A noise which could only be called a moan escaped her lips, causing her to push against his body further.

"It was.. so amazing, Clyde." She whispered.

"It really was." He said softly, his face only a few inches from her. "You know.. I wasn't kidding when I said you have an amazing body underneath this suit."

Tali's face lowered slightly, looking down at the sheets of the bed before one of her hands sought Shepards. Shepard responded by lifting his left hand into hers, wringing them together and resting them above there heads. His other hand was still squeezing the lovely hips of his quarian princess.

"Y-you always embarrass me." She said nervously. He loved it when she stammered over her words, it was an amazingly endearing trait that he really liked.

"You can be confident about that, you know."

"I-it's just.. nobody has ever told me something like that before. Y-you're the only one to have ever even s-seen my face.." The hand in Shepards starting to wring itself against his. She looked down, embarrassed again at Shepards talk.

"Would you like me to tell you how great it is until you believe me?" He said with a hint of mischievous play. "Or would you rather me show you.." He added, his hands quickly reaching down below her hips, her behind being squeezed softly. A moan mixed with a noise of shock escaped her lips, the lights that were here eyes narrowing accusingly at the perpetrator in-front of her.

"That.. I could get used to that." she said hungrily but with an edge of playfulness in her voice. She let out a nervous giggle again.

"Me too." He said with a laugh.

"Clyde?" She asked. It didn't seem she could get enough of calling him by his first name. And here he thought he was going to have to force it on her.

"Mmm?"

"I do think I'm being selfish here.. I mean.. If I wasn't in a suit we could.. you know. D-do that again." She stammered out the last part quickly. Shepards eyebrows cocked slightly.

"Are you saying you want to do that again?" Shepard asked softly but with a hint of amusement and curiosity in his voice. His hand delved with Tali's behind once more. The shock had left Tali's voice completely, only a moan escaping this time. His hand followed an invisible line his eyes drew, a hand coming up her waste and across her thighs and abdomen and then finally chest. He let his hand, linger there before he moved his hand to her waist.

She cooed out at him, her breathing getting slightly deeper. The sound of long, needed breaths danced in his ears, her voice filled with a mixture of want and embarrassment

"Yes.." She hissed finally.

"I could wait years for you, Tali." He said.

Her voice was caught. She didn't really know what to say except to throw her mask off and pound her lips against his. Unfortunately that was not to be the case, at least not this time. She was already sick, she didn't want to worsen herself, but Clyde always had this way with her. It wasn't fair.

"You need to stop being so.. you. I just want to.. I don't know, Clyde." She said annoyed.

"You complain about me being cocky, yet here you go making it so hard to not be. I can't change myself if you keep enticing it." He said jokingly. She looked at him lovingly, her arms pressing tighter against his back and with a comfortable sigh, turned around from him into a more comfortable position, her hands coming to meet his, positioning one around and one near above her.

"I never want you to change." She answered.

He smiled his biggest smile of the night.

"EDI. Lights." He said snapping his fingers.

"Very well, Commander." EDI's voice rang out.

The lights dimmed and then there was only the faint blue light from the aquarium dancing across the room.

"Don't worry, Tali." He answered with a yawn. "I can't become better than I already am."

Tali let out a small laugh. She decided she wanted to see him this time. Turning back around she slid one of her arms across him, a yawn escaping her own lips after Shepard had done so.

"Clyde?" She asked nervously.

"Uh oh." He responded at the nervous tone of her voice.

"Am I.. I want to.. well you sort of.. I-I mean, well we were a-a bit preoccupied and I k-kind of-"

"You are an amazing kisser." Shepard said with a small grin. He was really warm. He always felt that his new cabin was colder than the rest of his ship. That might have something to do with him always being to lazy to get under the covers however.

Tali felt heat rise to her face before answering.

"T-that's not what I was going to ask." Tali stammered. Shepard let out a rather amused sound, kissing the top of her head.

"Well, you know now."

"I'm sorry, I'm just.. I get so nervous when I think about it and you know I talk to much when I'm nervous. I-it's just I had never done that before and it just.. it felt so amazing. Nobody had ever touched me with such.. want and I-" Tali's rambiling was cut off quickly by a laugh from Shepard. Tali huffed. "It's not funny! I really just..."

"Tali, I wasn't making fun of you. You are the best kisser I have ever had the pleasure of tasting." He whispered the last part of the sentence, a small shutter coming from the quarians body.

"I was.. t-thats good.. you are very good to.. but I was going to ask how.. well.. nobody had ever seen my face before.. so I was kind of.." Tali trailed off in embarrassment. She was asking him how he thought she looked underneath the mask. Shepard was actually fairly shocked.

"You want me to give you my opinion on your looks?" Shepard asked with mild surprised. He couldn't really help it, Tali had never been one to fish for compliments. Hell, Shepard could barely get her to take any that he gave her.

"W-well, I-I.."

"Tali?"

Tali looked up at him, nervousness writhing on her expression hidden beneath the smoke of her visor.

"When I saw you, the first thing I thought was that there was no way I got the best personality and the most good looking girl in the entire galaxy. I was.. just not that lucky." Shepard said soothingly. He felt Tali's hands squeezed the back of his shirt as though he was the only anchor she had to the bed. Like he was keeping her there.

"After everything I've seen, everything thats happened, I always kind of wondered that if there is a higher power that rules the galaxy were they ever going to throw me a bone?" He looked down at her as though the purple visor was nothing. As though it was air.

"When I ran my hands through your hair, when my lips touched yours, when I.. felt you. I finally realized that my gift, I guess a reward from whatever crazy shit runs this place came in the form of the perfect woman."

Tali's hands were squeezing his shirt as tight as her 3 fingered hands could. She looked at him with the most adoring look she could. Damn the visor, she had almost completely forgotten it was there.

"Clyde..."

"Does that answer your question?" He asked with a playful chuckle. She let out a coo of approval, reveling the moment before speaking again.

"I can't be that pretty.." She said coyly.

"Fishing for compliments now, are we?" he let out a moan of relief, letting himself sink into the confines of the comfortable mattress.

"Is this a problem, my captain?"

"Definitely not. Maybe after awhile of me telling you how gorgeous you are you'll start to believe me. Doubtful."

She let out a murmur of unintelligible words. He couldn't help but let his hands stroke her back in an up and down pattern. He had never been more comfortable and grateful to be finally tired in his entire life.

The Reapers will not interrupt this.


	3. Relapse: Tali'Zorah and Clyde

I'm sorry this one took so long to upload. Loads of personal stuff happening all at once resulting in a very depressed me. But, enough of that.

A lot of people seemed to like Clyde as a Shepard. I enjoy writing him. And for those that like Clyde, I give you this; How Clyde and Tali got started and together. The bonus scene that isn't in the game I got from reading another fanfic that I cannot remember the name of but it's one of my favorites.

Once again, as I am the worst self-editor ever, forgive some mistakes you see. I'm sure they're there.

Enjoy!

_**Relapse: Tali'Zorah vas Normandy**_

"You know, Zaeed, the way you talk about your assault rifle is a bit scary. Truly. I think I would be less scared if you told me that the gun is actually a reaper and you're just indoctrinated." Shepard said with a small laugh. Zaeed, amazingly, let out a small chuckle at the mans retort but not before sending a fist flying at Shepards thigh which landed with a thud. Shepard got up and limped slightly away from him, his laughter escalating slightly.

"I'm being serious! I've had enough of reapers for a few lifetimes." Shepard said with a wince of pain. He shook his leg slightly. Zaeed really didn't joke around when it came to his gun. Shepard made a small mental note; Never insult the gun. Jessi was the new god of engineering.

"Besides coming down to annoy the piss' out of me, Shepard, what're you here for? Don't think you're here to start trading war tales are ye?" Zaeed asked.

"You underestimate me, Z. I talk with all my crew. You may be an old piece of shit but your a talkative piece of shit." Shepard said, sitting down over across from him on the floor. His left hand went to massage his thigh which he could tell was going to form a rather brutal bruse.

"I won't hit you again if you promise to never call me Z again." Zaeed retorted.

"Deal. I can barely feel my leg."

"So, what'd ya wanna talk about Shepard?" Zaeed let one hand move across his chin. Shepard couldn't help but look at him and make a cross between a detective and a general from the marines. Mixed in with a whole lot of mean.

"I don't know. I never do. I normally just go up to someone, ask them how they're doing and they start the conversation for me." Shepard said with a shrug. "I am curious though. How much _did_ Illusive man pay you to deal with my bullshit?"

"Not enough clearly." Zaeed mumbled. Shepard rolled his eyes but it had no meaning. "I can't really say how much but you'll have my services for awhile yet, Shepard. What, worried i'll go puttin' a bullet in ya when the credits run out?"

"Something like that." Shepard admitted. "I've never been on good terms with mercs. They tend to not like it when I blow property up. Uptight pricks."

"Funny that eh?" Zaeed said with a chuckle. "Don't worry, Shepard. Just don' mess with my Jessi and we'll be fine"

"Fighting reapers is what I do. That's good to hear though. Especially after the whole, yknow, Vido thing I thought you would have more incentive." Shepard said with a bit of a raised eyebrow.

"Shepard, I've seen you fight many times now. You are definitely not worth the effort. And neither is Vido. Besides, even us mercs have some things with hold sacred. Moneys one of them." Zaeed said with a bit more malice than Shepard would have liked.

Of course, going to do Zaeeds job was an uncomfortable one. The situation he was left with was an obvious one for him, but obviously not for Zaeed. A situation had presented itself where he was forced to continue Zaeeds bloodthirst or save many innocent lives. Shepard chose the innocent lives. It wasn't even a question for him, but Zaeed had reason to hate this guy.

He was worried that he would have had to fight the merc he was so close to boiling point at the time. Not wanting to risk losing an eye like Zaeed though, Shepard had managed to convince him out of it. Even though the bruise forming on his thigh screamed otherwise, Zaeed was valuable. And a pretty cool guy. Except when he punched you.

Then he was a bit of an ass.

"I'm just curious is all. Reapers coming and all this and that I'd like to keep you around but If your salary is too intense, I don't really know what to do." Shepard slowly stood back up on his two feet, stretching his arms out and doing a few jumps to make sure the feeling was in his leg again.

"Don' worry Shepard. Illusive Man gave me a great amount of credits. If we survive the reapers we'll talk about getting further along in payment, eh?" Zaeed crouched slightly, sitting in his normal hunched position.

"Great. In debt to a mercenary, doesn't that sound-"

"Stupid _stupid _drive core!" A high pitched angry quarian voice echoed across the engineering bay. Shepard and Zaeed looked towards the source which clearly meant Tali wasn't in a good mood.

"Come _on_ you little _bosh'tet!"_

"I've seen a lot of things, Shepard. That be one of the scarier ones." Zaeed said.

"What's wrong with her?" Shepard asked with a raised eyebrow. This was a good excuse for Shepard to go talk with her, but Shepard didn't really feel like getting pummeled by Tali if she was in a bad mood. The trial was pretty intense, maybe it finally caught up with her?

Maybe Kenneth decided to get a bit too friendly and shes substituting drive core for him to not rise suspicion. She is pretty clever.

"She been in a bad mood for awhile now. Might wanna go check on that eh?" Zaeed said with a gesture of his head towards the abyss that was Tali's station.

"To the lions we go. Good talking with you." He said with a salute when he turned around from him. Shepard let out a small sigh. The events of Tali's trial weighed heavily on his mind. He had rallied the crowd against the admiralty bored and they cleared her of all charges when he was there. Surprisingly quite a few people stood up for her.

He knew Kel'Reegar would have his back. He wasn't surprised when he had stood up and threatened to walk away. Truthfully, Shepard wouldn't have minded if he had left. He could use his fighting skill and he seemed like a okay guy. The one that shocked him, however; Veetor. The nervous jittery fool he had to save from being sold to Cerberus. God knows he would have ended up into a quarian husk or something like that if he had left him to the Illusive Man.

Regardless, probably a lot due to the tirade Shepard had roared at the council before the two quarians came into the light, Tali was free of charges. Shepard had been in a pleasant mood after that. He kind of wanted to bring Tali with him to the Citadel to just relax or something or other, but alas, that would probably look bad to the crew. Him and Tali going to the Citadel to shop?

Yeah. Not a date at _all._

Although, Shepard couldn't deny that a date with Tali wouldn't be such a bad thing. She had been with him for a really long time. The crap with Saren to being the first friendly face he saw when he was resurrected and now to being back here. She always loved to inform him of information he genuinely found fascinating, which was unbelievable in itself simply because Shepard could barely stand being taught about anything.

"_Yeaaaah. The pretty girl in the suit likes being made fun of all the time. Sure she'd love that." _Shepards mind sneered at him. It was true though, He thought. While he couldn't deny quite a bit of attraction to the quarian girl, she probably didn't have any time to think of a boyfriend much less _Shepard _of all people.

Rounding a corner seeing Kenneth and Gabby talking about the new guns, Shepard gave them a nod. There he saw the irritable quarian scrounging away at her terminal, muttering under her breath. Shepard got an idea.

A evil idea.

Moving his index finger to his lips and nodding at Gabby and Kenneth and making a small 'shhing' noise, he crouched down slightly. He moved his feet slowly, tiptoeing ever closer to the destroyer of worlds. He would surprise it, disarm the beast before it could open its jaws to clamp down and throttle him.

Hopefully.

He found himself behind the quarian without her knowledge. Biting on his lip to prevent any laughter seeping through, he moved his body up to stand fully at his max height, looking over her shoulder, before;

"**SO WHATS GOING ON HERE!" **Shepard yelled. Tali had practically leaped from her spot, turning around with one hand coming to her chest with the other rolled into a tightly balled fist that Shepard had to make sure to keep an eye on in-case she tried to throw a punch at him.

Tali did not seem amused.

"Shepard you.. you! Y- _why did you do that?"_ Tali said very irritably. Her breath was rather deep, a very annoyed stammer to her voice Shepard couldn't help but laugh at. He raised his arms to defend his face jokingly, grinning at her behind his shield.

"Heard you threatening the drive core. Thought i'd disarm the beast before I tried to help it." He said with a shrug.

She fired a punch at him which Shepards shield managed to block. Annoyed, Tali turned around and shook her head at him.

"Big pink bosh'tet." She said. Shepard was sure she was scowling at him her meanest quarian scowl behind the visor.

"Oh come on, It was funny." Shepard said still laughing. He moved beside her terminal, flashing a smile at her that he tried to make say I'm sorry. It didn't come off that way.

"For the record, I'm sick. I was just..taking it out on the drive core." She said with a small sigh. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to yell. Just.."

Shepard put his face in his hand.

"Did you really just say sorry for me doing that?" Shepard asked hysterically.

"I.. W-well I mean you shouldn't have!" She said regaining her stern composure. Her eyes narrowed behind the visor at him.

"Anyways, whats wrong? Need some rest? I'll make Kenneth do some overtime." He said with a jab of his thumb over his shoulder.

"Wha? What in the- Commander?" Kenneth stumbled over his words looking over at them from across the other station.

"Hah!" Gabby laughed.

Kenneth shook his head.

"It's okay, Shepard it's nothing serious. Just got sloppy doing some suit repair." She assured him.

"Ah. What happened?"

"Just took some fire back when we were on the Alaeri. Made an amateur mistake. I'm sure you don't want to hear about it." She said with a small laugh at the end of her sentence.

"After all this time haven't you learned i'll listen to about anything you have to say?"

"Well.." Tali started but quickly turned around to face away from him for a few seconds. She turned around to look at him, a sigh escaping her lips before shaking her head. "You always did listen to me talk about all the quarian thing's back on the original Normandy."

"I did indeed. You were a very helpful quarian codex." Shepard teased.

She reached to hit him again. This time she at least laughed while she did had ducked, grinning.

"Why do you always make fun of me? It's not nice, Shepard. I don't think the captain is supposed to do that. " Tali said.

"It's how I show affection. Are you saying you aren't used to it by now?"

"It's impossible to get used to, Shepard." She said playfully.

"Thanks. Really. Anyways, why are you sick? Tell me." Shepard asked.

"It's not really a sickness. I mean I get all the symptoms but it's mostly an acute allergic reaction to the foreign bacteria."

"Thaaat.. sucks." Shepard nodded. "I really don't know how you do it, Tali. Suited life sounds way to difficult for me. No offense."

"It's okay. You get used to it. We are in our suits even among family. The most intimate things we do with other quarians is link suit environments. We get sick, of course but we adapt. It's our.. biggest sign of trust, of acceptance."

"Soo.." Shepard asked slowly. "Have you ever...?"

"No! No.. I haven't trusted anyone enough for that. Well.. except.. you know, no quarians. You know what I mean." Tali said. Her voice seemed much happier saying that. Shepard smiled warmly, slowly moving a tiny bit closer to her.

"That's cute, Tali." Shepard said with a smile. "If I were a quarian I'd definitely link my suit with you. Although I'm pretty sure you wouldn't want my germs on you. They.. well, you know. Are mine."

Tali suddenly looked very nervous.

"I.. Um, Shepard..Well.. Thats um, really.. nice but.. normally that gesture signified a willingness for umm.. intimacy."

Shepards tongue nearly flew from his throat. Unable to contain a mixture of shock an excitement, his eyes grew wider and his jaw hung low for a few seconds looking at her. He shook his head out of his stupefy.

"Wait, wait.. But you.." Shepard moved his fingeres as though trying to draw lines between the both of them.

"I mean.. it doesn't have to mean that! It's not always.. I-I mean.. Keelah, How did we even end up talking about this?" She said paniced. She her hands started to meet each other at her waist, grappiling and wrestling with each other as though they were fighting for their lives. Shepard had always found this trait of hers adorable.

Found it... adorable...

Tali was nervous explaining that. She had.. always been with him and listened to his bad jokes and laughed. Had always.. well, been there and helped him apply medigel when he got the hell beat out of him by Krogans. She had always.. been there..

It all made sense.

He didn't believe Kelly at first, thought with all the joking they did she was just pulling his leg. But.. she.. just...

"Tali.." He said shocked. "I.. Wow.. Um. I'm kind of worried I'm going to mess something up here. Not really sure how quarians do this.." He said with a slight hint of nervousness.

Tali's head bent backwards slightly, confused. Her nervous stammer still present. Her hands had stopped choking each-other but still grasped one another in fear.

"I.. what do you mean?" Tali asked.

"How do.. Quarians ask a girl to be with them?" He said abruptly. He had said it before his mind had caught up to his instincts. Tali looked at him, her shining eyes through her visor wide like she had seen him for the first time.

"Shepard.. are you saying you're.. I m-mean, you never.. I can't.." Tali was stammering so much she couldn't even form a rational sentence. Shepard let his hands drop, his head shaking slightly before a nervous chuckle escaped him.

"I'm not really good at this. You know me, normally when something makes me nervous I just joke about it. I, uh, don't really feel like joking right now though."

"Shepard..."

Shepard raised a hand to interrupt her.

"How about you come up to my room when you're done here and we can talk about.. this when you're done." He said with a nod, regaining his confidence back for the moment. He could have time to prepare, time to think on how to approach this. Never in his wildest dreams did he ever think the girl to fall for him would be the one he actually liked.

The prospect of finally having a girlfriend and it being _Tali_ was starting to well up inside him. That tended to happen. He was easily roused up. Kind of like a teenager sometimes.

"Okay." Tali said quickly, clearly looking to end the conversation as fast as possible so she could stop stammering. "I'd.. I'd like that. I'm.. I'll be looking forward to it." She said before turning around to work at the terminal with a small cough leaving her lips. She looked behind her to see Shepard nodding. He let his hair cover his eyes as he made his way to the elevator.

Tali didn't stop looking at him till he finally left. She let out a breath she didn't even realize she was holding, a deep breath following soon after.

Shepard knew what he was going to do. He was going to have to really think about this to not screw this up. For once, Shepard cared enough. He didn't want a possible good thing to end over something like him being unprepared.

Tonight was going to be interesting.

* * *

Why was he so nervous? It was just a girl. It was just a small.. thing. He was less nervous when he had found out sovereign was a Reaper. His hands were clasped together, he was sitting on the foot of his bed with his head down. The floor seemed much more interesting in the last bit. He knew he probably had some work to do, could go talk to some people. They were headed to Illium for now, so he didn't need to worry about a destination. Any time he tried to think of something else, a very nervous and stammering quarian girl always made her way back into the front of his mind.

He felt a mix of emotions. First of them being stupid for not seeing this before, especially when Kelly had even told him before he talked to her about it. He couldn't deny he always had some form of attraction to Tali, but he was never any good with being romantic or anything like that and he always kind of picked on her.

Another emotion he felt was happiness. If he could do this right.. If he could finally get something to go right, perhaps he wouldn't have to think about what it may have been like on earth with a family. You know, _not_ fighting Reapers and rogue specters. Maybe he wouldn't have to think that Akuze was possibly his fault. And maybe he could actually find _someone_ to tell this all to.

"_You're thinking way to far into this."_ Shepard thought. It was true. He was already thinking long term plans with her. If this was going to go right he needed to take this one step at a time. One step..

This was a pretty steep step. A much steeper step than the possible situation of; "Hey, would you like to go out for dinner sometime?" he had envisioned this going in his mind. At least for the _first_ date. Now they were going to talk about a relationship in his bedroom?

Way to steep. Especially for him.

He laid back and put his hands on his face, letting out a groan of frustration. What could he possibly say? Hey, you're cute?

Before he got a chance to slap himself, he felt his heart skip a beat when he heard the door to his loft open. Sitting up way to fast he stood on two feet, stumbling a little bit before looking into the rather nervous looking quarian now in his room.

"Umm.. Glad you could make it?" Shepard said nervously.

"_Real smooth, jackass."_ his mind sneered.

"Hey. I, uh, wanted to talk about what we, you know.. said earlier today. It was.. kind of.. I don't know." Tali looked like she didn't really have a clue what to say. Shepard thought to himself how bad this conversation could end up if they both struggled to find words for each-other. He needed to gain some confidence here.

"Tali, I'm.. sorry for making you uncomfortable. Do you want to just be friends? We can." He said quickly. He wanted to get it out of his system as fast as possible.

Tali looked at him with mild shock, her hands collapsing near her waist to strangle each-other. He never realized how cute that trait was.

"I'm sorry." She said abruptly. "I was.. not being rational. I was being stupid, and selfish."

Whatever thoughts Shepard had in his mind were immediately rammed away from the forefront of his mind. He raised an eyebrow and faced away from her slightly, looking at her in with a bit of a confused look on his face.

"Tali, you being selfish is like me saying I'm invisible. Doesn't make any sense. You are the most self-sacrificing person I know." He said.

"That might be true in comparison to humans but quarians are different. We've always been raised to look for the good of the fleet before anybody. If we don't, people could get hurt. Maybe even killed." Tali said with a bit of sadness.

"So.. are you saying you don't want to? I mean, that's fine. Didn't think you'd like me anyways. Way to many stupid jokes for one girl to handle, I understand." He said laughing a bit.

"No, No!" She paniced. "It's.. got nothing to do with what I want. It's.. about what you want."

Shepard didn't really know what to say. He was constantly resisting the urge to grab her and squeeze her in the best hug he could conjure. He slowly started to walk towards her, the same confused expression still plastered on his face.

"What I want? Tali, If this is about what I want than we should be on my bed cuddling right now.. So I don't see the issue here."

Tali suddenly looked even more nervous if it was possible. She chose to move her head down and glance at her feet, her hands still locked in a wrestling match with each-other.

"Keelah.. you always put things so bluntly." She said with a small laugh.

"You know me, I don't like to beat around the bush."

"I'm sorry?"

"Human idiom. Don't ask."

He was now fairly close to Tali this time, looking down at her hands trying to strangle each-other. The urge to hug this girl was frightening. How does one suck so bad he can't see something like this in-front of him?

"It's just.. you deserve to be someone who can make you happy all the time. I... I can't do that. No matter how much I.. I could get sick, Jeopardize the mission."

Shepard let out a small sigh. This was going better than he thought. Not quite as he pictured it, but much better. He still might have a chance to salvage this. Blood pumping, Heart beating so loudly he could hear it echo in his brain.

"What if you.. pretend this wasn't happening, Tali. Like I came back and it was just us and the ship." He asked.

"If it was just me?" She took a deep breath. "If it was just me.. you.. I was the only one to see your sadness when Chief Williams died on Virmire. I saw you risk everything to try and save the colonists on Feros when you could have just killed them. I've.. I've seen you fight the galaxy itself, Shepard.. and I never imagined you'd ever see past.. this.." She added slowly with a gesture to her visor.

Shepard had never felt more touched in his entire life. Sure, people complimented him before. Hell, he complimented himself a lot to. To hear it in such a sincere way?

"Tali.. I.."

"_Say it, you idiot" _His mind roared.

"I.. how sick could you get?" He asked quickly. He hadn't made up his mind on what to say yet. He needed to think of something.

"It's always a risk. The reaction could minor, or maybe it could kill me. That's.. not what I'm concerned about Shepard. I—"

"It's what I'm concerned about." He interrupted her.

Tali stopped her sentence mid-word. Her eyes seem to widen behind the visor, her hands suddenly being lifted by Shepards. He knew what he wanted to say now.

"Tali, If you really want to play the selfless card here.. then you will stop this." He said sternly. "If you truly want to make me happy, if you truly want whats best for me, then you will stop your nonsense right now and agree to be my better half. Agree to be the thing I've needed for so long and never seen. Be.. with me."

Tali's hands were gripping his now. Her eyes behind her visor wide in shock and emotion he couldn't really describe. He dropped his head slightly, his black hair covering his eyes from view.

"I'm.. not good at this, Tali." He added. "But.. for you, I'll add it to the list of things I'm good at. I'll be good, no, i'll be _great_.. for you."

"I.. Shepard.. I.." She stammered. Shepard couldn't take it anymore. His hands left hers only to wrap themselves around the quivering girl infront of him. Pulling her in for a soft embrace, letting his hands run down her back slightly, he laughed a little.

"I hope I'm not too bad at hugs."

"Thank you.. you don't know what that.. just.. thank you. It.. it mean's so much." Tali was laying her head against his shoulder, her hands now gripping the back of his shirt as she returned the embrace.

"I won't try to rush into sex or anything, Tali. I know it's dangerous.. I'll be the gentlemen."

"Gentlemen Commander Shepard? How.. not like you." She teased. He let out a laugh, leaning back in the hug to look into her eyes. He reached up to brush the hair out of his eyes. He didn't need to hide behind his hair.

"I'm normally not like this at all, you know. You should feel honored. You'll be the only one to see this side of me."

"I.." She said quickly. She looked at him, but then she gave a stiff nod. She moved out of the embrace, moving towards Shepards bed without even realizing it. He got another evil idea in his head.

"I'll do some research. Figure out how to make _this_ work."

"What can I do? I can help. I'll go ask Dr Chakwas in a few hours." He said without the slightest bit of hesitation. She smiled underneath the helmet.

"I'll find a way. Their are ways to temporarily improve my immune system. Immuno-Boosters, Anti-biotic injections.. that kind of thing. I'm sure you don't want the details, but trust me, I have plenty of motivation to figure something out."

"I'm sure you aren't the only one to have a relationship outside your race." He said curiously.

"Sure.. but normally they do things from outside the suit. Nerve stimulation programs and such.. I.. don't want that. If we really are going to do this.. I want it to be real. I need to feel your skin on mine.. I want to show you what I look like underneath the helmet.. If I can do it without dying."

"Dying?" He said with a tight face. He didn't want that. Definitely didn't want that.

"Well.. Are you sure you can do this? I mean, without.. I can go without that, Tali."

"Y-Yes, I can. We would never reproduce if we couldn't, you know."

"You speak the truth." He said with a small chuckle. He took a deep breath, exhaling slowly before nodding. "When you're ready to.. you know.. come find me. And we can start teaching you.. many, _many_ things."

"I hope you're ready to teach me _plenty,_ My captain."She said with sultriness littering her voice. Shepards eyes cocked in amusement. Was that really Tali under their? She seemed to be making the same discovery as soon as she said it and saw the look on his face.

"I.. uh, well that is.. I'm gonna go do stuff for the mission. Like.. repairs, yes.." She said with a sharp nod. He was sure her cheeks were beaming with embarrassment.

"Mmmm.. No. We don't get to Illium for awhile. Don't be in a rush to leave me, Ms Vas Normandy." He said playfully.

She looked like she had done something wrong for a second.

"No! It's not like I want to leave.. It's just.. Their is a lot-" She was interrupted by the sudden push of Shepards hands. She was close enough to the bed so that when Shepard pushed her she fell over the foot of the bed, landing on her back softly with Shepard chuckling over her. He climbed on top of the bed on his knees, grinning at her.

"No." He said. "No, that won't do. I told you if you wanted to make me happy, you were going to be cuddling with me on this bed. You want to make me happy right?" He added playfully.

She looked like she was about to argue for a second, but decided against it. She knew their was probably no way she was going to convince him to let her go at this rate. She laid against the bed in a more comfortable position, a glare seeping through the visor at him.

"I-if they mess up the engine room down their, it's your fault."

"I can live with that."

He moved closer to her, one hand moving to her waist. His other arm coiled around near her shoulders, pushing her into him. She seemed nervous and a bit hesitant at first, but when his hand started to rub slowly, she let out a sigh of content, her one arm coming to wrap around his chest.

"This is really.. nice." She said happily. "I think I could get used to this, Shepard."

"Tali?"

"Yes?"

"Stop calling me Shepard." He said with a smile. "It's Clyde to you."

She looked shocked at first, as though he was asking her to speak a different language to her without a translator. She shook her head slightly before talking.

"That will take some getting used to."

"Don't worry.." He said slowly. "We have plenty of time."

* * *

"Why are we doing this again?" Shepard asked curiously. He placed the camera near his dresser, placing it just right so they faced him and Tali. Tali snuggled comfortably into his arm that was wrapped around her shoulders.

"It's so we can remind ourselves in the future about our time on the Normandy!" She said excitedly. "I don't think we'll be here forever. I'd like to live off of a star ship one day."

"Am I in this future you have planned?"

"Of course." She said happily.

"I like it already. Although this does seem a bit unnecessary." He reached out and tapped the camera slightly, shifting it more appropriately. "We are kind of fighting for our lives here. I don't think it's easy to forget something like that."

"Just.. do the recording, you.. what's that word called?"

"Knuckle-head?"

"That's it." She said with a nod. "Now go ahead, introduce yourself."

Shepard looked down at her with the most bemused expression he could muster.

"You.. want me.. to introduce myself.. to.. me?" He said without any restraint in his laughter. "Sorry dear, but that is the craziest thing I have ever heard you say."

One of her hands came down and slapped his shoulder. She rolled her eyes at him, her eyes narrowed at him squinting in amusement as though she was smiling.

"It's in-case I show this to anyone else!"

"Well that would have been better to know about 10 seconds ago before I made myself look like a jackass!" He countered. She laughed but rolled her eyes again, another slap hitting his shoulder.

"Just do it you _bosh'tet!_" She said sternly.

"Fine, fine. Okay." He said regaining his composure from laughing. He waved at the camera, forcing himself to not smile as much.

"Hey. Commander of the Normandy, Clyde Shepard reporting for duty... camera?" He said looking back down at her. "That good?"

She gave a nod, waving at the camera after.

"So, to whoever is watching this.. this may seem kind of strange, so you're probably wondering why I'm recording this."

"I'm kind of wondering that myself." Shepard said honestly.

"Shut _up, _Clyde!" She said irritably.

"What? Unless you didn't tell whoever is watching this about what you did on the Normandy, I'm pretty sure they're going to know."

Tali put her hand on the back of her head, letting out a groan of frustration.

"Just let me do the recording, okay?"

"Okay, Okay." he said, shifting closer to her.

"We just got back from.. what was it again?"

"The Rite of Passage on Tuchanka."

"Yes, Grunt's thing. And-"

"It was a _**giant**_pain in the ass."

"A necessary need for Grunt, is what I was going to say." She finished before turning to look at him with a stern look.

"Two thresher maws I've had to deal with on foot. _Two. _I hope I never have to see one again."

"Yes, but we killed it didn't we? Grunt looked really pleased with it at least."

"Of course Grunt was pleased with it. He's a Krogan. Their was fighting. _Shocking._"

"You are so irritating sometimes, you know." Tali teased. Shepard put his hand on his heart in mock-hurt, gasping at the quarian underneath his arm as though she had just confessed to cheating on him.

"I try my best to be as humble as possible, thank you very much." He said. Tali shook her head at his nonsense. Quickly turning back around and grinning at the camera, he let Tali continue on with the recording. It was her idea anyway.

"Anyways, I decided to do this incase we need something to remind us our- _Stop laughing Shepard!_ To remind us of our time fighting the collectors." She finished.

"I wonder what your thought process is with this, I really do." Shepard said.

"I wonder what your thought process is all the time, Shepard."

"I told you to call me Clyde, didn't I?"

"It's hard! I don't think I hear anyone call you by your first name." Tali argued.

"Well, I normally don't let anyone. You aren't just anyone, you know. You're my fancy quarian girlfriend."

"_Anyways."_ She interrupted with a clear smile behind her visor. "We're headed to the Citadel. Garrus got a lead on the guy who betrayed him."

"Basically we get to go punch some people." He said with a shrug.

"Will I be going to this?" Tali asked suddenly.

"Huh? Oh, I was going to bring you and Mordin with me. He keeps asking to go on missions lately. Guess something about my biotics intrigue him."

"Thank you. Garrus is probably gonna need some friends there for this one."

"Yeah. Not sure how I feel about him actually killing the guy though." Shepard glanced at the camera again as though it was annoying him. "So, what do we have this up for again?"

Tali let out another irritated noise at him. She stood up and made her way to the camera, picking it up and began manually filming just him. Shepard normally didn't like being filmed. He moved his hair in-front of his eyes on instinct.

"Move your hair!" Tali demanded.

"Why? I hate being filmed." Shepard said, moving his legs onto the bed and stretching them.

"I really like your eyes." Tali said softly. "It's just me, Clyde. And whoever I show this to, but that probably won't be very many people."

Letting out a sigh, he brought one of his hands to move his hair out of the way of his eyes. He saw Tali fairly close to him, hovering above him with the camera in her hands as though trying to capture every angle of him.

Suddenly, Shepards eyes flashed with mischief. His hands reached up to her waist. A loud scream of laughter and shock echoed throughout the loft, followed by just laughter as he pulled her down onto the bed, reaching up and pinning her down by the wrists, the camera flopping helplessly on its side just enough to catch the two of there heads in the film.

"I got you now." He said triumphantly. He pressed a kiss to the top of her visor.

She looked up at him, a wide smile painted across her features which she knew he could not see. He knew though. He always seemed to know.. always.

"How long will you keep me here, captain?" She asked with a mixture of sultriness and adoration in her voice. His hands slid down her arms, his one hand reaching over to the camera.

"What are you talking about?" One of his hands made its way over to the camera, his fingers grazing over the button to turn it off. "You act like I'm ever going to let you go."

* * *

The air was still. With every breath, it felt like the next one would be harder to take in. Nerves. He was never nervous. How many times had he faced a dire situation before? Was it so different? Why did it suddenly feel like a Krogan was sitting on his chest? He should be confident. That's what his team was going to need. The collectors should be the ones afraid, not him. So why, why did he feel like this? Why was he constantly smoothing over the bed, constantly asking EDI to filter the room. Why did he have an extra long shower?

Because the collectors were _**not **_what he was nervous about.

The only thought on his mind was Tali and her words. She had promised that she would share herself with him before the final battle. He didn't want to make her sick before the mission, or ever, but she wouldn't have any of it. He couldn't help but laugh that he was the one being pressured into sex. By a quarian, of all people. The irony was too amusing.

In his hands sat a data-pad of all the information of quarians he could find on the extranet, which wasn't that much. They were a fairly hard species to find information on, apparently. However he did find out a few useful things which gave him an idea for the future.

He sighed. This was stupid. She might not even want to come up. Maybe she decided she wanted to be alone. Not everybody had other thoughts before a suicide mission. Shepard suddenly felt like a bit of an idiot. He could have been worrying about her this entire time instead of the suicide mission for no reason at all. He could-

"So..." A female quarian voice said behind him. He slowly turned around to see her, a smile etched across his face. She came. He wasn't worried for no reason at all.

"I've.. t-taken some anti-biotics and some herbal supplements that should bolster my immune system." Her fingers reached down and gripped his data-pad without looking at it, keeping her eyes focused on him. He barely felt the pad leave his fingers, he so desperately wanted to hug the girl in-front of him. He had to be patient, this had to go perfectly.

"I was going to bring music.. I, ah.. didn't know what you liked, so.. I d-didn't really bring anything, and I didn't think you probably l-liked quarian music and humans are so diversi-" She stopped her mumbling as she noticed the smirk on Shepards face. He was touched, but his inner monster roared with the desire to make fun of her.

"I'm babbling like an idiot." She said. Shepard gave her a small laugh, his arms slowly coming around her in the most comforting hug he was capable of.

"Yes, you are." He said.

"Hmph,"

"Don't worry.. If you give me the chance to talk I might babble like an idiot too."

"You babble like an idiot without being nervous, Clyde." She teased.

"Ouch."

Letting out another small chuckle, he pulled her towards his bed. She seemed hesitant at first.. but she let him set the pace. He sat on the edge of the bed with her following soon after. He moved one hand to her left thigh, his other arm wrapping around her waist and pulling her into him. She let out a sigh which sounded like a mixture of things, nervousness and a bit of want. Possibly being enticed by the hand on her thigh.

"Just tell me if you want to go slower." He said assuringly.

"N-No.. Keelah, no. E-even through the suit i-it.. this feels so _right_, Shepard.." She said softly.

"I'm going to stop if you call me Shepard." He teased gently. Slowly, his hands rose up, caressing her sides and stopping at her shoulders. It was like she was delivered so nervous and so worried just to dispel his own nervousness. Any pessimism he head about this night was gone in a flash when it finally dawned on him that he was going to see her face.

"I.. just.. I've never been so happy, Clyde.. I.. Ah, that is.. I want this.. us, to work.. I've thought it over, and I've minimized all the risks but I'm still nervous." Tali was pausing in between her words, thinking carefully on what to say next. He couldn't hear her. His only thought right now was the fact that something was under the visor. He wanted to see it.

Slowly, his hands had risen a little higher to her neck, slowly rising ever so slow as she continued to ramble. Her hands found his, gripping them slightly as he gave her an assuring smile.

"It.. always makes me talk to much." She said in a hushed voice. "It's.. a defense mechanism and it's stupid.. and.. people can't see my face so I have to make it clear what I'm-"

The sound of air pressure being released echoed as though it was played through a microphone. His hands moved the purple shield away, but he almost dropped it when he finally got a glimpse of her. Her.. face. Tali's face. Her.. face..

Wow.

It was like every muscle in his brain stopped. Like his brain had seized up and refused to work for seconds. His jaw hung open slightly, his eyes wide as he looked into the brightest green eyes he had ever seen that looked almost human, but they were narrower.

"Feeling.."

Shepard blinked into reality when she spoke again. He couldn't believe that.. no. He was dreaming. He could not have found, in his eyes, the prettiest girl he had ever laid eyes on that was his. That was _his._ That didn't want anyone else.. That..

"S-Shepard..?" Tali spoke with no voice modulator. All his emotions raced into his brain at once, he couldn't contain himself.

"I love you."

He had said it before he even thought about it, before he even got the chance to think it may have been too soon or if she would feel the same way. Time stood still. Her nervous eyes and scared look was suddenly replaced by one with overwhelming shock and emotion, the nervousness in her eyes being replaced with soft moisture.

He meant it. He couldn't believe he had said it, but god did he mean it. A smile, a tender, warm, and amazing smile crossed over his face as he gazed in to the pools of emerald green. Damp trails were leaving their marks down her cheeks. She looked unable to say anything, so filled with emotion at the time that he only knew one thing to do.

Slowly, he leaned his face in. Slowly. He needed to be slow.. this would be her first time. Everything needed to be slow. No care in the world was in his mind except the off chance she wouldn't like kissing. He needed this to be perfect.

Her shocked face gazed at him as he leaned in. She started to lean into him to, small sniffles and sobs escaping her. And then.. slowly.. their lips touched.

It was gentle. Very gentle. It was an incredibly soft kiss. He gently pushed his lips on to hers, a new foreign taste to him was the greeting. The kiss was rather long in its tender motions, his mouth very slowly caressing her own. The two shared the moment with each other, their hands had found their way around each other in between their chests.

He pulled away. Slowly, his teeth gently biting her lower lip with drew a nervous giggle from her. She looked like she wanted to say something but couldn't find the words. He grinned.

"That was your first kiss, wasn't it?"

She nodded slowly.

"C-Clyde.. you said.. love.. then.. wow, Keelah, that was.. y-you said that and I.. It was so.. s-soft and I-I have _never_ felt something like-"

Shepard had a slightly bemused expression. She looked like she was having a rambling overload, too consumed with emotion to form the sentence in any rationality. He let out a sigh of amusement, leaning in and kissing her again, this time with a bit more passion and heavier lips.

He finally could silence her in a much better way.

"Tali." He said with a grin. "How do we get this helmet off?"

"O-Oh.. right. I.. ah, that is.."

"Tali."

She gave him smile. She looked like she desperately wanted to kiss him, but he wanted that helmet gone. Slowly, she reached back and pulled the golden rings from her neck, a few snaps later of course. Her veil that rested a top her head slid down below her neck. She unhooked some of the tubes at the back of her helmet, before gently lifting them off.

He was greeted by a mess of beautiful curly black hair.

His couldn't take this.

She saw his look at smiled coyly. He desperately wanted to kiss her but instead he moved himself completely on too the bed, motioning her to follow. As she slowly slid on to the bed, he slowly wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her In to a comforting embrace. His forehead hit hers, grinning at her with as much eye contact as he could muster.

Before he could say another word, she had pushed him onto his back. He found himself pushed against the bed, looking up at the quarian girl that had been responsible for this crime.

"Impatience?" He said smirking.

"Shut up and kiss me you bosh'tet." She responded.

Laughing, he reached up and moved a hand to her face, cupping her cheek as their lips joined together for what would be the most amazing night he could ever remember.


	4. Apology Accepted

Sorry for the delay, everyone! This took a lot longer than I expected. Finally, some serious shit happening! The next chapter is probably going to be fairly short, so it shouldn't take me that long to update it. Anyways, sorry for spelling errors. Enjoy the next chapter of our favorite Clyde Shepard!

Yes, I know, I finally got around to making something serious happen. And a hint as to whats to come! Gasp.

Remember too review, favorite if you like, bake me a pie, etc, if you like the story. 3.

* * *

_**Chapter 4: Apology Accepted**_

"Tali, I really don't see why this is necessary."

"Shut _up_, Clyde."

"I'm serious! I look like I'm going to go shoot up a bar. Stylishly. With flare, you know. Why do I have to wear this?"

"Because, Clyde, we are _not_ going down to the Citadel to start trouble. There is no reason for you to go down wearing armor. You are having a meeting with the Council. They have the data from the Collectors. You will calmly go down and get them to help us fight the Reapers."

"Since when did you start giving me orders?"

Tali's eyes narrowed beneath her helmet, glaring at him as though he had insulted her very soul. Shepard held his hands out in-front of him in a mock-attempt to shield himself from the icy stare. He moved in-front of a rather large mirror he had gotten in his lounge, grimacing at the well-dressed

soldier that he laid eyes on.

"Look at me. It's like the exact same suit I wore to Kasumi's little deal with that idiot in the mansion."

"That's because it is the same suit." Tali said with irritation. She grabbed the cuffs of his suit, pulling them over his wrists a bit more. He let out a grunt of disapproval, resisting the urge to shake them over his wrists again. He hated being dressed up. Made him feel closed.

"What, so I don't even get a new suit? I'm like a recycle bin. Much better looking though, wouldn't you say?"

"I'm not answering that."

It was time to go drop the bomb on the Council. They had sent all their data and proof about the collectors and reapers to Anderson. They had arranged a meeting the next day. He was not looking forward to this. A part of his brain hoped that the Council would berate him again so he could keep doing things his own way without the Council's help, lest the Turian councilor risk a giant smack against the fringe if he gave him as much attitude as the last time.

The thought drew a small laugh from him, which got a curious look from Tali. He shook his head at her. Telling her that he had hopes in his head about slapping one of the leaders of the Citadel would not go over well.

"I'll meet you down there, Clyde." Tali huffed, turning away from him. He let out a noise that was more of a grunt than anything else. Tali turned around, glaring at him. He braced himself for the upcoming verbal beat-down, but that was not what came. Tali's voice was soft.

"Hey.. Clyde.." She said curiously.

"Mmm?" Shepard answered, straightening the collar of his suit. He looked over at her with a puzzled expression.

"Your hair.."

"...Is fantastic, I know. What's up?"

"No, you idiot. The tips.. they're white."

"Oh, yeah. Mordin said it was a side-effect from the surgery." He said with a shrug. The tips of his normally black hair were tinged with snow-white. He didn't exactly know what had caused it or what part of the surgery could have done it and Mordin didn't seem to feel like explaining. "Irrelevant," he had told Shepard. Sounded like just an excuse not to think because he didn't know, but he chose not to complain. It was a neat little bonus.

"I kind of like it." Tali said with a happier tone. "Very unique."

"Really?" Shepard said with a bit of surprise. He flipped his hair through his hands a couple of times.

"Hm. What if all my hair turns white?"

"Well, then, change the tips black." Tali said with an obvious smile beneath her helmet. "See you down there, Clyde."

He let her go this time. He glanced in the mirror again and turned to his side, looking at the dressed fabric that now covered his body rather than his usual armor. It felt a bit constricting and it made him feel much too professional. He reached up and pulled the corners of the neck-piece. A bit too hard, apparently, because the next sound heard was something of unspeakable horror to his ears.

Rip.

He closed his eyes in horror when he felt the cloth give way. He peeked one open, looking at the mirror to see a split down the collar. It felt better, but he knew Tali would ring his neck for it. Now wasn't the time to be forsaking looks for comfort. However, an idea came to his head. One of those.. Clyde ideas. He grinned to himself, reaching over to the hem of his right collar..

"If you're going to sin, might as well go all the way."

* * *

Tali was with Jacob and Kasumi outside the Normandy. The rest of the crew besides Garrus and Shepard had already left and began spending their day at the Citadel doing whatever they felt like. Jacob and Kasumi were chatting, apparently they had something started. Jacob was talking about all the red tape he had been constricted to before, while Kasumi talked about how easy it was to get around this and that. If you had listened in without prior knowledge you could have sworn they were each going on their own separate conversation.

It lasted for around 10 minutes. Tali was started to get impatient. Shepard should have definitely been done by now. And where was Garrus off to? Calibrations didn't need to be done again. If he went inside the ship and saw him doing those again..

However, the thought was diminished as Garrus (with a thoroughly amused face) exited the Normandy, a constant but contained laugh sipping through his mouth. He closed his eyes and shook his head at the ground when he saw Tali, who seemed a bit confused at this hysterical Garrus.

"What's so funny?' Tali asked.

"You'll see."

"What?"

"Shepard is.. ah, well, editing his attire."

Tali let her eyes narrow at the Turian. He couldn't contain himself and let out a howl of laughter, resisting the urge to buckle over completely. The laughter seemed to go on forever. He pointed towards the Normandy amidst it all.

"It looks like he just tried to mate with a Varren!" Garrus said after a few quick breaths. The glare in Tali's eyes was removed and instead replaced by one of utter bewilderment at the term.

"I've seen his outfit, Garrus. It's not that bad."

"Oh, it wasn't, I'm sure."

Tali's head cocked to the side, glaring at the her Turian friend. Clyde..

"Garrus, what did he do?"

Garrus didn't get a chance to respond, however. The next thing that was heard was a sharp laugh from Kasumi who pointed at the exit of the Normandy. Jacob couldn't even help himself to a chuckle at the site of the arrived Shepard who walked down towards the group, a mischievous grin on him.

"Commander, I think you are having a wardrobe error," Jacob said with a chuckle in the middle of his sentence.

"I'll say. Shep, did you lose a bet?" Kasumi asked with a giggle.

"No. What, you don't like it? I thought it looked dashing."

Tali was stunned. Completely speechless. Before her stood the suit, or formerly a suit ripped in so many places she couldn't believe it. The entire left sleeve on his right arm was gone up to just above his elbow. The collar had been ripped completely off. His left leg had been ripped off just below his knee, too. The hem of the shirt had been torn in many places to make it look like it had been sliced by scissors. All of this with the fact that Shepard had a look of utter amusement at her stunned reaction while the rest of the group made jokes made a very amusing scenario.

To everyone who wasn't Tali.

"S-_Shep-Shepard!_" She practically screeched. Shepard's face contorted with strain, fighting himself to prevent the roaring laughter building in his chest.

"Yes, love?" He asked innocently.

"No! Don't you _**love **_me, you bosh'tet!" Tali shot at him. Her eyes were narrowed thin, glaring at him beneath the visor that he knew oh so well. He let himself imagine the adorable and beautiful face underneath her helmet contorting in anger at him. The thought made him have to choke on more laughter. He turned away from her and faced Jacob and Kasumi, running a hand over his face with his eyes closed in mock-focus, trying to keep himself from laughing.

"Jacob!" Shepard said sternly. Jacob, as though realizing he was out of character, looked at him completely stunned before saluting. Shepard nodded curtly in his best impression of a marine general.

"Assess the danger-level of threat Tali'Zorah. Go." Shepard said, his stern voice crumbling at the end of his sentence, breaking into laughter before snapping back into seriousness.

Jacob was again stunned. As though completely lost between two sides of himself, he looked between Kasumi and Shepard before catching Tali's dangerously narrowed eyes, fists clenched into tight, small balls of fury as though daring Jacob to speak.

Shepard won.

"Sir!" Jacob said with a grin. Shepard was glad to see him finally loosen up.

"Tali'Zorah threat is rising to critical levels. Recommend extreme caution with possible use of deadly force. Further analysis required, sir!"

"Thank you." Shepard said with a curt nod. Kasumi, who had moved to stand beside an equally amused Garrus giggling up a storm. He took the opportunity to make the situation even better, not noticing the seething ball of Quarian rage that was growing every second. He marched towards Garrus, solemnly placing a hand on his shoulder and looked at him seriously.

"Garrus.." He said sadly. "I've decided to sacrifice myself to disarm the bomb. If I don't make it out alive, promise you'll take care of everyone? Remember, don't mess around with Joker, he's pretty soft-bone-"

_**CRACK!**_

A small but ferocious fist had slammed down into his left temple. He didn't really know what to think at first, his head swam with stars before turning around defensively to fight the attacker only to be revealed that the cause of the swelling and pain in his head was the one and only Tali. She was scowling like he had never seen, fist still clenched in fury. Shepard immediately relaxed but still kept a defensive posture up. He got into a stance, stretching his left arm out and keeping his right tucked by his chin.

"Go, Garrus! Save yourself!" He called out in a panic. Garrus nodded and with another laugh from Kasumi and a shake of the head from Jacob, they left him and Tali to their own devices. An onslaught of furious and fast slaps and punches came suddenly from the small Quarian, only to be caught and blocked by Shepard, who grabbed her by the wrists and pulled her into him with a laugh.

"That was completely unnecessary!" He with a grin. "What kind of woman does that?"

"The_ very, very annoyed kind_, you big.. big.. ugh!" Tali seethed. He couldn't tell obviously but he swore he could make out the faint picture of someone trying to desperately fight back a smile through her visor. He gripped her a bit tighter, smirking down at her—but the pulsing pain in his head still made him hold onto her wrists very diligently.

"Tali, come on. This suit looks much better this way." Shepard said. "It was so stuffy in there. I hate being contained."

"Oh, poor you," Tali said sarcastically. "You better hope you never let go of me. I'm going to do terrible things to you."

"Oh?" Shepard said with a raised eyebrow. "I don't know, I like that idea. Last time I was missing pieces of my clothing you did such amazing-"

"_**Clyde!**_" Tali hissed. She gave another brief struggle, as though trying to punch him through his arms. He let out a laugh and another smile. His arms then coiled around her stomach, pulling her into a quick embrace, pushing his face into her neck lightly. He let himself breathe in the scent of her suit and then let out a small, content sigh.

"You know.." He said mischievously. "I could just blow off the Council and we could go back to my cabin and.. well, you know. Explore."

Tali's eyes widened in embarrassment at the suggestion. She said nothing for a few seconds, her right fist unclenched slowly as though mulling over the thought. However, her reasonable side won out in this case and she shook her head at him.

"Clyde. Th-This is important. We need the Council on our side," she said with rather weak sternness in her voice. "Don't do that to me."

"Alas, you are right," he said with a disappointed groan. He leaned back, letting his hands free the wrists of the dangerous Quarian. He took a few steps back quickly, with slightly wider eyes ready for a counter-attack.

"When I get back from this, though.." He said stubbornly. "We'll.. ah, 'talk' about it."

Tali rolled her eyes at him, feeling a flush rush appear on her cheeks from inside the helmet. Shepard waved at her and made his way over to the fast-transit station to get to the Presidium. He paused however, a thought coming into his head: Should he go talk to Captain Bailey and see how Kolyat was doing? He hadn't heard a lot of him besides that he and Thane were talking. However, the thought was quickly brushed away. He was sure that's what Thane was doing. He didn't need him interfering-

_**CRACK!**_

_**

* * *

**_

_**

* * *

**_

"Son of a _bitch._" Shepard groaned, his fingers massaging the tender sides of his head. He knew bruises were forming and cursed under his breath with every pulse of pain that echoed throughout his brain. For such fragile looking aliens Quarians sure as hell packed one hell of a right.

It would look too anyone else that he was trying to focus on something, fingers massaging the spots just above his ears.

Why do these elevators take so damn **long?**

The entirety of the elevator ride was him mulling over the possibilities of the meeting that was about to ensue. For some reason it never ended well. About as well as the last meeting between them where he told the council to cram it. He was fully prepared to say it again, too. Although, the amount of possible awkwardness was staggering to think about. They might, damn them, have to admit that he was _right. _

_**Holy. Shit.**_

He paused and walked outside of the elevator when he heard the familiar noise of the elevator arriving. He didn't bother looking around, he had been here enough times to know this place off muscle memory.

Kind of sad, when he thought about it.

Grimacing slightly, he took a deep breath before entering the council's room. He was happy instantly. The first face was a friendly one.

"Anderson!" He yelled out happily. Anderson turned around with a nod, one of the rare times he ever smiled. Maybe him being councilor wasn't so bad.

"Shepard, good to see you." Anderson replied back graciously. "And might I..." His eyes grew wide for a few seconds, looking Shepard up and down before letting out a small chuckle. "Shepard, what in the hell are you wearing?"

"Please, don't remind me. It gives me a headache." Shepard groaned. "I did some editing to the suit. I think it fits me better."

"Fit's you?" Anderson guffawed. "Dear lord, Shepard. You look like a Krogan tried to eat you. You actually did that to yourself?"

Shepards eyebrows raised slightly. He gave the councilor a curious look, a warm but sarcastic smile plastered on his face.

"You know what? What if I had almost been eaten as a Krogan at a young age? You'd feel like a jackass for bringing up such _terrible _memories." Shepard said grinning.

"I would say that the poor Krogan probably spat you back up, Shepard." Anderson fired back. "However, now is not the time. I really wish you didn't come to this so.. unfinished. The council already isn't too happy about this."

"I'm not happy about this either, you know." Shepard grunted. "It's not like I came here for your personality. I need to get this ready and right before the axe comes down."

Shepard moved away from Anderson, his arms crossed. He was impatient. He wanted to leave and get out of this place as soon as possible with as little talking to the council as he could possibly get away with. They irritated him and he was sure that they were probably going to try to argue the validity of his proof.

"I don't have time to argue this, Anderson." Shepard said coldly but he let out a sigh after a few seconds. "I'm sorry, I just really don't want to be here."

"I understand, Shepard." The councilor said solemnly. "I don't blame you. With all the hogwash they sprayed at you the last time it's a miracle you came here today, but you know what will happen if we don't cooperate."

"Only too well.." He said with a tap on his temple, referencing to the conduits. "Only too well."

The wait for the council to arrive was an annoying one. It was a quiet room. Shepard just looked at the floor, his arms crossed, kicking his legs impatiently, occasionally looking at where the three would-be projections will be in the near future. The wait seemed to last forever, only sharing a simple glance of annoyance at the situation at Anderson every now and then.

He let himself delve into the thought of maybe the council not showing up and he could just leave. 'I did show up to the meeting' he would say. 'I came and nobody showed up! What do you want from me?'

However, always being the ones too disappoint; The three holograms filled the room without warning. He let out a sigh. Dammit.

"I've thought you were a lot of thing, but tardy wasn't one of them. I confess myself unamused." Shepard said with obvious irritation. He uncrossed his arms and moved himself from the spot he had perched himself on, strolling over in-front of the holographs of the council. The familiar faces of the Asari, Salarian and Turian all greeted him with there usual neutral and irritated faces they always had when dealing with Shepard.

"Excuse us, Commander." The asari apologized polietly. "We've been rather busy as of late, we were getting some, ah, preparations in order."

Shepard gave the Asari a rather confused and curious look, but settled for nothing more. He shrugged it off easily enough before speaking again.

"Now." Shepard said clasping his hands together. "Where do we start?"

"Shepard.." The Turian councilor said with a bit of a confused tone of voice. "Before we begin, may I ask what you are wearing-"

"Shh!" Shepard hissed holding, his right index finger coming up. He didn't feel like explaining his need for freedom to someone else. He turned turned his head to the left, grinning at Anderson before looking at the council again. "It.. was an accident. Yes, an accident. My.. apologies, I think."

"You _think_?" The Turian blustered. He looked like he was going to berate Shepard further but the Asari councilor shot him a look that clearly told him to be quiet. Defeated, the Turian councilor slumped his shoulders and with a shake of his head, dropped the subject.

Shepard one, Council zero.

"Commander.." The Salarian spoke. "As you know, we have recently been shown by Councilor Anderson your data regarding the attacks on human colonies. And, ah.. the Reapers."

Shepard once again turned to face Anderson. The councilor was looking back at him with a serious face, exchanging a hard glance and a nod with him. Nodding back, Shepard looked back towards the Council. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad.

"As such, we have decided that we would like to work with you as a.. necessary precaution. If what you're saying is true, and there is little arguing the evidence that has been shown.." The Turian councilor gave a bit of a flinch, his mandibles opening slightly but closing quickly as though wishing to argue but deciding against it. The Asari councilor looked at him again before continuing. "We would like to take the necessary steps to preserve the safety of the galaxy."

Shepard took a deep, deep breath at this revelation by the Asari. It almost felt too good to be true, being right in-front of the council. That the council had to admit their mistakes. His serious stature dropped slightly, a thankful and relaxed smile breaking the tension that had held his face prisoner.

Shepard two.

"Thank you, Council." He said with a nod. "I know we haven't gotten along in the past, but I'm willing to put that behind me for now to share with you some of the information I've learned."

"Now.." Shepard said with a grin. "What would you like to know?"

"As much as you can share, Shepard." The Turian said hastily.

"Alright, then, captain impatience." Shepard said with a small laugh. The Turian seem to strain under the pressure of not berating him. The Asari nodded with the Salarian, egging Shepard to talk.

"Well." Shepard said. He began pacing back and forth between the two walls in-front of the holographs . "Firstly, I would like to confirm a few things."

"The people under my command share the similar belief that the Reapers, an ancient fleet of starships, were the ones who wiped out the Protheans thousands of years before us." Shepard said. "They use a variety of strategies. However, they are not indestructible. They used surprise tactics with the Citadel Mass Relay. Who knows what would have happened should the Protheans seen it coming. We have this chance."

"However.." He said sadly. "Our galaxy is too divided, too angry at each-other and caught up in its own conflicts. The Krogan fight themselves, the Quarians fight the Geth. The Batarians have the racist attachment of being nothing more than terrorists. And, honestly, who the hell likes humans?" He said with a small laugh. The council seemed a bit awkward at this statement but made no comment.

"Every single race has something to offer us in the upcoming war. We cannot do it with petty grudges and disagreements. If we do not unite, the galaxy will turn into nothing but blood and fire." Shepard said simply. "That, is what I propose. A galaxy wide truce. It will take awhile to start. The Geth and the Quarian's being the most problematic. However, having the Geth on our side, other machine-life, would be invaluable, and with the Quarian's natural A.I knowledge, we cannot forsake them."

"It will take time and careful, careful negotiation. However, a galaxy united will be stronger than the Reapers, who cannot possibly fathom this."

The council seemed to take time to let Shepards idea sink in. Nobody said anything for awhile, but finally the Turian spoke.

"Commander," The Turian said in probably the most polite voice Shepard had ever heard him speak. "I can understand what you are saying, but we are fighting a fleet of starships, are we not? What do the Krogan offer in this?"

"I was getting to that." Shepard said with a nod. The Turian paused for a second, but did not say anything.

"When Sovereign attacked, I had a confrontation with Saren. Something happened. Something.. interesting. His body, very dead, rose. It was bathed in the red light Sovereign used to attack us. What exactly the technology was, I am not sure, but Sovereign spoke through the dead body of Saren. He told me that he had let him implant him, let him 'upgrade' him."

"So.." He said running a hand through his hair. He didn't like thinking of this. "If you believe my theory on Indoctrination, with that and the ability to implant people, we will not just be fighting a fleet of Starships. They will have ground-forces one way or another."

"Also," He said before anyone had time to respond. "If you also believe my theory on Dragon Teeth coming from the Reapers, we will have tons of husks running around the planets the Reapers will attack. Against this kind of ground-force, the Krogan have no rival. We will need them."

The council let this information sink in again. They couldn't argue with him this time. The Turian, damn him, looked like he wanted to try, but he couldn't find holes this time. The Asari was deep in thought, mulling over what Shepard was saying. The Salarian finally spoke.

"What else do you know about them?" The Salarian said suddenly, probably a bit more panic sounding than intended. "As in, behavior, motivation."

Shepard stopped for a second. He had thought about this before, especially after Harbinger had talked to him as he ran out of the exploding collector base. Should he share this with the Council? He seemed to have them under wraps pretty well right now. What the hell?

"Motivation, no." Shepard said with a shake of his head. "However, behavior, I can answer."

The council stood up a bit straighter, eager to listen to new information. Shepard took the time to laugh at his fortune here. He had basically told these people to cram their Spectre job up their ass last time, and here they were, eating out of his hands.

"I've talked to two Reapers now. They are arrogant. Full of themselves, confidence that cannot be stolen from them after god knows how long they have gone on destroying everything that stood in their way."

"For that reason.." Shepard with a deep breath. "I believe there first, main target for a big attack will be Earth, or humanity in large-scale."

If it was possible for the room to feel more awkward, more quiet than it was, it happened. The air seemed to leave the room. Anderson even joined in the shocked expressions of the other council. He had never mentioned this to him before. He had never mentioned this to anyone yet.

"Y-You're.. What? You're sure, Shepard?" Anderson said.

"That is a very bold statement to make, Commander." The Asari said in a equally shocked voice. "What makes you say that?"

"Simple." Shepard said with a slight hint of insecurity in his voice. He wasn't completely sure about this, but it made sense to him. And if it made sense to him, he should probably talk about it.

"I killed Sovereign, Councilor. I don't know if they can feel humiliation, but it must have struck some sort of blow. And after the Collector base was destroyed, Harbinger spoke to me. He said that my species has there attention. I'm a human. It's not a confirmed theory, at all, but it seems that this arrogance goes across the entire Reaper fleet. If they do recognize me as a great threat, the logical conclusion would be to destroy all like me. Which means, Humanity."

Anderson still looked at him with a shocked expression. The council, however, seemed to accept this easier. They all looked at each-other, but made no head signs or nods in each-others direction. They turned back to Shepard, the same face attatched.

"You're theory is noted, Commander." The Salarian said. "While there is nothing we can do about that at the current moment, we will be sure to talk this over after furhter thought."

"Thank you for your time, Commander." The Asari said with a nod. "We have a lot to talk about. You are free to go."

He turned to Anderson after she had stopped speaking. Was that it? Just like that? After that giant bombshell? Anderson still looked like Shepard had slapped him. Not confused, not like he didn't understand, but just like it made too much sense and it scared him. Shepard gave him a grin, putting a hand on his shoulder.

"Humanity's tough. We aren't all getting old." He said with a laugh. Anderson looking at him with a stupefied expression before laughing a bit nervously. Shepard turned around, heading towards the exit.

That went well, he thought. His hands sought pockets, burying them in the fabric of his torn clothes simply. The council listened and hung onto his every word. They seemed to believe him. They were gonna talk about what they had said. They apologized to how much they didn't believe them and treated him like dirt before thi-

Wait a minute. No they didn't.

Shepard stopped in his tracks just as he was about to leave. They didn't apologize to him at all, actually. They just sucked him up for information and would probably take credit for it all. He felt the grudge against the council seep back into his throat, ready to spit it out like poison but he decided against it for now. Maybe he could talk this out with them. He started walking back. They were still watching him, as though they were waiting for him to disappear before they started talking to Anderson.

"Hah, excuse me, Councilors.." Shepard said with a run of his hands through his hair. "I'm sorry, but there is one thing still bothering me about this whole situation."

The Turian seemed to finally snap at this. It seemed that now that Shepards information was used up he no longer had to bite his tongue.

"We have a lot to talk about, _Shepard._" He spat at him. "Please, if you don't mind, leave."

"Ah, 'leaving'. We have dismissed this claim." Shepard said with air-quotes on the word leaving. The Turian fumed at this. The Asari shot him no look, no warning glare telling him to be quiet. Was that there plan from the beginning? Shepard felt a pang of anger build.

"I'm just curious. Can I grab an apology? I mean, you did sort of disbelieve this entire thing for about.. I don't know, _forever, _and since it's a few years late we may already be doomed. So I think an 'I'm sorry for being such uptight shitheads' is in order, wouldn't you say?"

"Shepard!" Anderson said with a worried glance. He wasn't looking at Anderson. His eyes were narrowed at the holographs before him. He could feel blood rising to his face. If anyone could push his buttons, it was these three idiots before him.

"How dare you!' The Turian spat at him. "Do not forget who you work for, Shepard. You are lucky we do not throw you in prison right now for treason!"

"I'm afraid he is right, Commander." The Asari said apologetically. "The last time you were here we thought about arresting you to prevent further issues with you and Cerberus. As glad as we are that you are providing such useful information, you put us in a very odd spot after our last visit."

"Forgive _me, __**Councilor,**_" Shepard said with sarcastic venom. "I figured that you would remember the last time I was here, you were throwing away everything and every warning I tossed at you. And here I am, spoon feeding you the _exact same thing _that you were so willingly eating up five minutes ago, and all I want is a return for you three being assholes."

"Shepard," The Salarian said calmly. "We had no reason to believe what you told us before. It was not our fault that you prevented no hard evidence. This time, you do. We acted to what we thought was the best action at the time."

"That's right!" The Turian said angrily. "If anything, you should be saying sorry to us so we don't throw you in jail!'

Shepard felt all the blood rush to his head instantly. He clenched his teeth so hard it hurt. They were the same fucking asshole's they always had been. Uptight and completely against anything that could make them seem like they were not in a position of power. Oh, he was sorry all right. Every logical muscle in his brain was completely shut down for now. He glared at them, fists clenched as tight as they could possibly be.

And then, a laugh escaped him. A hearty, healthy but mischievous laugh. His right arm started to glow blue, a crackle of energy breaking the silence between them. Anderson whispered something, but he could not hear. He said it again, this time audible.

"Shepard, Don't."

"You know what?" He said with a smile. Shepard moved in closer to the holograms, all looking at him with puzzled expressions.

"I am sorry, councilors." Shepard lied. His fist unclenched, the blue light fading as quickly as it came. He bowed towards the council.

"Very sorry."

Shepard turned his back towards them.

"Sorry..."

He turned around quickly, both arms pulled into his body.

"_**That I ever came here expecting anything less from you twits!"**_

And with that, Shepards arms roared and sped through the air with fury. A rain of azure destruction reigned into the holographs of the council. A look of complete shock and disbelief painting there face before the holographs disappeared in a flush and a crack. A mess of carnage was the only thing left of what were the three holographs of the three most irritating people in the galaxy. Before Anderson had a chance to say anything, to yell or to holler at him, Shepard was already leaving.

Enough of this bullshit. He didn't need there help. He would do this his way. He didn't care what they tried, what they did, or what they believed. It was all on his word, all on his hands what would happen. He knew it always would end up being like that.

Mother fucker's.


	5. Terrorism

This is a bit of a short chapter. However, be prepared. Chapter 6 will probably be ferociously long and, have, gasp, ACTION! Chapter 6 will probably be the 'true' beginning to the main story. Don't fret; The hilarious and rather absurd Clyde Shepard will still be around and in his truest jackass form. What's the point in serious situations If you can't laugh at them, Aye?

Anyways. I strongly encourage reviews/showing it to friends and the whatnot. It keeps me going. I'm glad to see the reception has been really positive. I love you all. 3.

This chapter is mostly just the exclamation point on the beginning-saga of the introduction. Once again, forgive the length if you would.

Once again; Review, Favorite, Bake me a pie, and sorry for spelling errors!

Lets go!

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**Chapter 5: Terrorism**

_**Stunned.**_

Their was only one real way to describe the feeling in the room. Nobody said anything. The only thing you could hear was the faint sounds of breath being drawn in. Shepard was putting all his weight on his arms on the table, his hair completely dropping in-front of his face. God. Fucking. Dammit. The one thing that could go wrong, does. And it was completely his fault, too. Idiots. Stupid fucking council. His fist crashed against the table in red-hot fury. A few people took a couple steps back. He couldn't tell who simply looking at there feet.

"That has to be some kind of joke." Jacob guffawed with a laugh in the middle of his sentence. It must seem surreal to them. Hell, it seemed surreal to Shepard.

"No." Garrus replied for him. "No.. It's not. It's a bit far, though, even for the council. I know they haven't always liked you, Shepard. With all the times you canceled the transmission back on the first Normandy, but.. this?"

"Well if what Anderson said is true, that stunt he pulled in the Citadel must have hit a soft spot." Miranda replied irritably. "Of all the times for you to be childish, Shepard. Why now?"

"I know." Clyde said neutrally. He didn't really know how to truly express what he felt, so they would have to stick with this.

"Shepard..." Garrus started, but he seemed unable to finish what he was thinking. Garrus let himself drop the sentence off.

"Shepard-Commander," Legion's robotic voice sounded out. "We estimate that releasing you from the prison will be hazardous, but achievable. We await planning."

"Too risky. Impossible to predict. Casualty rate most likely high. Easily seen through given current situation." Mordin said quickly. "Must wait long time. Come up with plan carefully."

"I'll be ready." Grunt said from across the table. "I will gladly destroy these vermin. When do we start?Should we break you out tomorrow, Battlemaster?"

"No, Grunt." Shepard said softly. "It's.. don't. Only come break me out if its absolutely necessary. I don't want to risk your lives. You don't need me yet. Who knows when the Reapers are coming. I can do time."

"Shepard," Miranda spoke out in her irritation. She walked towards him slowly but her fists were clenched. "You are the reason we would be going through this mess. You do not get to say what we do about this _predicament."_

Shepard would normally have some kind of crack, normally have some sort of snark reply to the irritable womans tirade, but he did not feel like replying. He simply turned away from her. He had no words.

"Samara," Shepard said suddenly. "Would your code prevent you from helping me out here?"

Miranda looked like she was going to say something again in response to this, but a look from Garrus silenced her.

"No, It would not." Samara said cooly. She was the most level-headed of them all. Always. "You are a needed weapon against the Reapers, Commander. I will do whatever I have to."

Shepard gave her a nod. Good.

"Mordin," Shepard said once again, suddenly. Questions kept appearing in his head and he wasn't giving any thought or once-over in his head.

"Is there anything else that the surgery may have done that I need to know about? I won't go crumbling into soup in prison, will I?"

"No further complications will arise, Shepard. Have run through multiple scenario's. Should be fine. Nothing I could do about it regardless." He responded quickly.

Shepard let out a sigh. This was a completely shitty situation. He pushed himself up off the table. Arrested... how interesting. He sat in one of the chairs that was across from Tali. She had kept her head down and quiet most of the time. She was fierce when he had told them what he had done in the Councils presence. Yelling, hitting. All kinds of stuff. It was funny, at the time. It wasn't so funny anymore.

"What I don't get is.. wouldn't this look bad on the councils part? I mean, they're arresting the savior of the Citadel. That can't look good for a public image," Jacob said in a bit of a confused voice.

"No," Kasumi answered. "Well, normally, yes, but the Council probably has camera's and video recording equipment. They could show that around and make sure that the perfect image people have of Shepard is demolished,"

"Him working with Cerberus isn't exactly completely hidden either." Miranda said. "It's a very good case when you put it all together for Terrorism against the Council."

Terrorism. Former Sepctre, Commander Shepard, Savior of the Citadel, a terrorist. The thought of that.. it made his mind laugh. His face contorted a bit into some anger, but his mind laughed. The irony. He might be the only person in the world with enough knowledge and common sense to stop the upcoming Reapers, and they were going to call _him_ a terrorist. A threat.

Pathetic.

"Terrorist.." Clyde said with a bit of a hysterical laugh. Everyone fell silent and looked at him with lost, confused expression, unable to figure out the right words to say with their Commander. He wondered what would become of them? Would they track his crew down for Aiding a criminal? He was letting himself get anxiety now. Great. All he needed was too be nervous.

"Can't we jus' leave now?" Zaeed grunted. "What's stopping us from simply flying away and saying fuck these idiots?"

"No, No." Shepard waved him down. "If I leave right away, the council will definitely flag me as a wanted criminal. No.. if we wait, if I do some time in prison.. when ships start disappearing and planets start getting rocked by giant black lobsters with lasers and _then_ I break out, I'm hoping for either overwhelming public support so the council can't do anything like they can now with the whole 'Cerberus' thing or that they just shut up when I start sending Reapers back in pieces."

Zaeed looked at him, as though wishing to make an argument about it. It probably did make more sense too simply leave. They couldn't lock them down, but it almost felt like blackmail. If he left and started helping during hype, he felt like he'd probably have more support. If he left now, he's simply a terrorist on the run.

"Shepard-Commander?" Legion spoke out again. "We await your orders."

Everyone looked at him. Everyone looked at the man they laughed with, respected, got annoyed with and a multitude of other things. Did they expect him to come up with some giant, amazing scheme? To break him out and become rebels and drive away the Reapers as some small rebel force of destruction?He shook his head. Of course not. He wasn't dealing with idiots, he was talking to his friends and they wanted to help and fix it.

Friends, eh?

'_Anderson,'_ Shepard thought. _'How could you let them do this?'_

Shepard let out a deep sigh. Anderson called him as soon as he got back and broke the news to the crew. They said that the council was advancing c-sec operatives to move in on the Normandy and to remove him with authorized deadly force to take him into custody. They were going to take him to a prison-ship like Purgatory, called Containment-7.

He was going to fight. To destroy. To rip these assholes a new cranium. However, he had looked at Tali. Looked at his best friend Garrus. Looked at all of the people he had grown attached to that hadn't tried to piss on him or throw him to the wolves. Sure, he had made them all do dangerous shit like walk into the collectors base before, but this was easily avoidable and they had no-where to run. So he made an agreement. He would leave with-out a fight and go to C-Sec HQ without a fight in twelve hours time.

Terrorist.

Maybe he would meet some more interesting people in prison. Hell, maybe he could see if he could break out without the assistance of his crew if the Reapers came really early.

For one of the first times, Shepard was speechless. He didn't know what to say. The Commander was gone for the time. Commander Shepard had taken a backseat. Clyde Shepard was just standing there, with nothing to say.

'_Wake the fuck up!'_ His brain roared.

This was not the time to wallow and be a god damn martyr. They needed him. They needed direction, even if just a little to confirm the fact that he was still there Commander, immature temper and all. And one person desperately needed him. He looked over at the girl contained in her suit, her shoulders slumped. Tali didn't seem mad. She seemed.. down. Defeated. _Depressed._

Fuck that.

"Okay." Shepard said pushing himself off the wall.

"Miranda," He said pointing at her. "You are the commander while I'm gone. Don't get power hungry. Garrus, you're her XO. I also give you permission to smack her in the ass if she doesn't _start wearing real god damn combat armor to missions._" He added with a scowl. Miranda looked taken a back, her irritable and angry expression disappearing before everyone's eyes. And then she rolled her eyes at him. Perfect. Garrus didn't do anything as such, he simply nodded in agreement.

"I don't know if they will actually take me to the place Anderson said, so try to forget that. Track me down. Come up with a plan to break me out and execute it on the first sign the Reapers show themselves." He said seriously. "We can't risk it. Don't hesitate."

"Also, Thane." He said turning around. "Kolyat. Keep him out of shit, alright?"

Everyone, especially Thane, was caught off guard by this. Thane looked at him puzzled for a second. What an odd question, he must be thinking.

"I'll do my best." Thane said with a bow.

"Alright." He said slowly. He gave the site of his crew another once over. Zaeed looking as pissed and as angry as ever, Garrus and Miranda ready with new information. Jacob saluting. Mordin thinking. Grunt pounding his fists together in his normal overenthusiastic battle-high. Legions tanding there as though nothing was wrong with Samara and Kasumi, who were doing much of the same. And then.. Tali..

Tali..

"That's it." He said slowly. "That's all I can say. Just.. be safe, alright? Tali, come up to my cabin." He said. He didn't look at her reaction. He just had to trust she would follow him. He pushed past everyone and beat everyone out of the room. He was in the elevator at record speed. Before he hit the button to rise, he saw a purple clothed figure come across the corner. Tali. She silently entered the elevator with him. He didn't know really what to say to her. Should he hug her, comfort her, or sit here in silence?

_'Silence sucks.' _His mind said. He let out a nod of agreement.

However, regardless, he let the elevator rise to his cabin silently. He felt like he was just meeting her again in his cabin to talk about the feelings they had for each-other. The tense air. The thoughts of how this and that could go wrong.

When the door opened, he walked out and moved his hands behind his head and sighed. Well, time to fight the dragon.

"Look, Tali.." he said. "I'm sorry. I was really hoping to spend a bunch of time with you, spend more nights cuddling and laughing. I.. I'm sorry. Fuck the Reapers, I'm more upset about not spending more time with you."

No response.

"I just got really mad. I can't stand being under-appreciated or mocked. My ego got the better of me. And now I'm going to jail. Funny that?"

No response again.

"Tali?"

He turned around to see the smiling but tear-stained face of a Quarian with no visor. He took in a deep breath. This was only the second time he had ever seen her face. And it still looked beautiful. Gorgeous. However, she didn't have her visor on. Wasn't this dangerous?

Shaking himself out of his shock, he was about to open his mouth to protest, but all of the sudden his lips met hers. She had crashed into him, her arms wrapping around his neck. He pulled her in closer on instinct. God, she tasted so right. Tongues wrapped around each-other, lips melded, arms grasped each-other. It was amazing.

However, his reasonable side caused him to break apart (dragging his top teeth across her bottom lip) reluctantly. He was smiling, but his eyes showed worry.

"Tali, wh-what are you doing?" He asked. "No mask.. I, what?"

"I.. uh.." Tali said a bit shyly. She was pushing into his stomach and chest. "I had been planning to.. start something again tonight.. so when I got back from the Citadel I took some more anti-biotics and.. well.. what are you making that face for?" Tali said irritably at the bemused expression on his face.

"Oh, nothing." he said innocently. "Looks like someone enjoyed themselves last time in more ways than one."

"Shut _**up, **_Clyde." Tali said with a nervous laugh. He slowly moved back, the Quarian girl cradled in his arms like it was a safety that could not be broken. This kept up until they were at his bed. They both sat on the edge of the bed. He looked at her smiling face, soaking in to what he thought was a complete image of perfection. His fingers intertwined with hers, and he kissed her a few more times.

"I'm sorry." He said simply.

"Don't talk." Tali responded quickly. "I just.. I don't want to think about it, Clyde. I lost you for two years before. I don't want to think about losing you again."

Her smile was lost to the wind, it seemed. He mentally kicked himself for bringing it up. Why was he always incapable of doing _anything _right?

"You know I'm coming back to you this time, though." Shepard said with a sadder tone to his voice. "I'm coming back."

"Promise me."

"I promise, I will return to you. So long as you haven't hooked up with Garrus or Jacob." He said with a grin. "Then I might have to start breaking some knee's."

"Stupid bosh'tet.." Tali said with the cutest smile he had ever seen.

"You'll wait, right?" Shepard asked earnestly.

"Is my captain nervous?" Tali asked coyly.

"Always. Only you make me feel this way."

He had pushed her onto her back. Shepard was over-top of her now, grinning down at her, his lips constantly connecting with hers, pausing only to share a small laugh, completely into each-others loving embrace.

"I love you, Tali."

"I love you too."

He would never forget this night either.

A night in heaven before he spent days in hell.

Bring it on.

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Now, before you all start eating me alive and be like "Dude, it's mother fuckin' Shepard! He can break out like, today!" Yes. It is mother fucking Shepard, however, he's not invincible. He can kill a lot of people, but to many bullets and anythings gonna get eaten alive. It took him and two others to bring down purgatory in the story. While Clyde's a beast, especially with the surgery, he probably won't go risking getting himself murked before the Reapers come up.

Also; Yes. I have been planning this. Don't fret; There is method to my madness. Chapter 6 might be awhile.

Get ready!


	6. A Single Step

This. Was. Such. A. Bitch.

Not really because of the whole length of it like I thought it would, but I just could not think of how I wanted it to go. I kept getting excited about one part, then think of a way to make it better over and over and over. Here's hoping the final result is good.

Anyways! Remember to review and do all the other shenanigans you know I love. This is rather fun to write if people are actually liking it.

Get readin!

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Chapter 6: A Single Step

Uncharted space.

Endless.

The unknown.

How many people got a chance like this? And such was his dream. Nathan John. Star-chart mapper. A simple job on paper but an exciting one in practice. It was great to him. A great crew he got to work with all the time. It was like Christmas every project. He got to see things nobody had seen much of before anyone else and map the chart for it all. He sipped his coffee staring outside into the dark space. Glorious.

Such was his life. A simple, short and dark haired man, Nathan John's life. However, it tired him sometimes. He was thinking of a vacation. Yes, that is exactly what he needed. Take the money and go off somewhere. While charting the galaxy was exciting, he had been awfully busy the last bit. This was to be his last trip for awhile, at least if he could help it.

Of course, this wasn't always his dream. Growing up he had always dreamed of being a soldier. A Marine. To 'shoot the bad-guys' as he loved to put it. Combat, however, wasn't his forte'. When he had just realized how much.. _space _was out there, his need for curiosity continuously went un-checked. He had to explore.

And now, he does explore. All the time. With a good pay. Did life have anything else to offer?

"Captain?" A feminine voice said behind him. He grinned into the glass protecting him from the endless void. Janie.

Yes, yes it did.

"Mm?" He said simply with another sip of his hot drink.

"Jerry wanted me to tell you to come see you. He seemed upset... he said it was an emergency." She said with a clear of her throat. He turned to meet her serious look with one of his own. What would that idiot want now?

"Did he give any mention as too why?" He asked. Janie shook her head in response which was met with a sigh from Nathan. "Then I have no reason to believe it is an emergency."

"He sounded pretty serious, Captain." Janie responded nervously.

"I am pretty serious about my time not being wasted." He growled. He looked over at the girl who seemed to pace around herself a bit nervously. He felt a bit of guilt hit him. He walked towards her gingerly, another sigh escaping his lips. A bad tendency. He always sighed when he was ready to say something. It was getting to be a habit as of late.

"Are you okay, Janie?" He asked. "It's not something I did, was it?"

"W-What? No, Nathan.." She said with a quick look around to make sure nobody was in ear shot of someone calling him by his first name. "I'm just.. ever since.. you know, we started.. getting personal, I always feel like somebody knows."

Nathan let out a chuckle. He walked beside her, wrapping an arm around her waist gently. "Nobody will know if you do not wish it." He said sincerely. "Don't lose sleep over it."

"That's the thing, Nathan. I-it's not like I'm worried about _us, _I just worry about the crew assuming.." She said with a shake of her head. Her red hair which was always so pretty to him covered her eyes. His hand reached out and brushed it away so he could look into the pools of green that he had come to adore.

"Janie. Let the crew assume." He said with a grin. However, despite a smile he received, she still seemed unsure, her head turning down the hall to see if anyone else was coming yet again.

"I will deal with Jerry's rabble. Will that make you feel better?"

She looked at him for a moment, not saying much but a shy smile and a nod confirmed. He nodded, giving her forehead a quick kiss before scooting past her without another word. Troublesome.

Jerry was one of his engineers. A good friend of Nathans. He normally did not doubt his judgment and even enjoyed talking to the younger man, but this seemed to trouble Janie. So much so that she really did seem relieved to see him go down to see him and see what the fuss was about. And that was enough reason to quiet the riot.

Janie and him had only.. confessed feelings and discussed a relationship two weeks prior. He let himself laugh a bit. It was such an amusing confrontation, both of them struggling to find the right words. And then it was done. A kiss sealed it, a romantic night made it complete.

Life was good. He had a good job, a good crew, great women. Sure, maybe he was getting a bit told. Fourty-three, too be exact. And the women were near or around half his age or just a bit older. But, age hasn't stopped him yet. It was getting to be more of a choir than he liked, however. With Janie being so paranoid and another certain someone always needing confirmation about the rumor's around the ship.

He found himself down at engineering quicker than he had thought, apparently lost in his thoughts. He found Jerry looked sour, leaning against a wall just beside the steps.

This wouldn't be as easy as he thought, it would seem.

"This had better be good." He said to the young blond man. This seemed to only further get him into a bad mood.

"What do you think you're doing?" He growled.

"What?" Nathan asked. "What am I doing?"

"Yes, _what are you doing?_ With Janie. What the hell, man?"

Nathan was stunned. His face expressed it. In not one scenario in his mind had he guessed this. How could he possibly know?

"H-How-"

"Who gives a shit how I know?" He said angrily. "What the fuck, man? Janie too?"

Nathan stared at him hard and long. That didn't make any sense. How could he possibly know about that? Had rumors started about him and Janie already and he missed it?

"No." Nathan said simply. "I want to know how you know."

Jerry looked at him in the same way. This looked to be a war of attrition. However, Jerry quickly let out a sigh.

"A rumor around the ship. I don't know if its true, but that's what I'm talking to you for."

"Ah." Nathan said nervously. He wasn't going to enjoy this conversation, he could tell already. Thousands of thoughts and possible counters with lies scrambled in his brain, trying to escape the uncomfortable situation. It didn't seem like that would be an option.

"Yes. Me and Janie are.. personal. I don't see what this has anything to do with you, however." Nathan said with a bit of irritability.

"It does," Jerry said, venom returning to his voice. "Because I know damn well that Yora is a great girl who you also said you had become 'personal' with. So, what, trying to have your cake and eat it to?"

He felt like he had been slapped in the face. He knew about Yora too? How fast did information travel around this ship? He let out a swear of frustration. Yora was an Asari who had been on the ship since the beginning. She was rather young in Asari years and really eager. They had great chemistry. However, Jerry was right. He had gotten personal with her to.

Many times, he had needed to talk to her. Confirm his feelings for her. They were genuine. However.. she was a nosy kind. It was a miracle she and Janie had not talked before and figured it out. The rumor's were getting louder, however. He couldn't silence everybody. This shouldn't have surprised him like this. Of course someone was going to find out.

"Look," Nathan said nervously once again. "I know it's not right. I just.. I don't know, man! What am I supposed to do? I'm trying to make them both happy."

"Both happy?" Jerry said hysterically. He moved a few inches closer to the captain. The captain of his ship. Like he forgot who he was. "You do realize they're friends, right? It's a miracle they haven't mentioned you to each-other yet. What happens when they do? Then neither one of them will be happy."

"I know that!" Nathan said irritably. He turned his back to him and ran his hands through his hair and pulled a little bit. "I know, Jerry. I feel lost, though. Have you ever had a conversation? I don't mean about the weather or something stupid. I mean a real, deep conversation. Yora is.. deep. Meaningful, yet so enthusiastic. Janie is so perky and energetic. They're both incredible women. It's not for me, Jerry. It's for them."

"I worry about that, sir." Jerry growled. "It's hard to believe that you'd be trying to balance two girls for _there_ satisfaction."

When he put it like that, it did sound foolish, even in his own mind. Would he have to make a choice? Is that what Jerry was saying? He didn't feel like he could do that yet. However, the tidal wave of emotions brought on by this scenario had suddenly all hit him. It sucked. A lot.

"I understand it sounds weird." He said weakly. "Trust me, Jerry. You've done it before. I won't keep it up, you're right. I need to make a choice before both of them get hurt."

The anger and poison seemed to leave Jerry's face at these words. He even let out a small grin and a nervous laugh.

"That's all I wanted to hear, sir." Jerry sighed. "All I wanted to hear."

"For the record," Nathan said flashing a grin back at him. "If you ever speak like that to your captain again, you're fired in about thirty different ways."

"Commander?" A familiar voice said over the intercom. "We have a problem. You need to come up here. Now."

"Duty, Duty.." Nathan said with no attempt to hide his annoyance. "Thanks, Jerry. Really." And with that, he turned and left, leaving the engineer to his duties.

He would have to choose. He would have to talk to Yora and Janie and make sure that at least he could make one of them happy for awhile. Jerry was right; He was an asshole for even thinking about trying to keep both of them. However, looking at the back of his pilots head, he decided it wasn't time to think about this.

He would worry about that later.

Arriving in the cockpit, he looked over the chair at his pilot. Greg. Amazing guy. Knew him for awhile. His always messy that he never brushed was the most easily recognizable thing about him. And the massive goatee. He patted him on the shoulder a few times.

"You called me?" He asked.

"Y-Yeah." He said with a tone of fear in his voice. Nathan looked at him a bit nervously.

"Whats wrong?"

"Well.." He said. "We detected a ship."

Nathans face resembled what it had looked like just minutes before when Jerry made his reveal to him. Stunned. Silenced. How could there be a ship here? Was someone else trying to map it and sell it Illegally? This was barely-known territory.

"What? A ship?" He asked.

"Yeah, and it's fucking massive." He said. "I'm flying us towards it for identification now."

"What kind of ship do you think?"

"I don't know, sir. It's god damn huge though, and it doesn't match anything I've ever seen. We are in unknown territory, though, yknow?"

Nathan let out a nervous chuckle. Yeah.. maybe it would be an exciting find. That would be perfect right about now. He could use that. He let out a sigh. It was probably nothing. He had never come across anything completely dangerous yet, so why would he start now?

"Approaching." Greg said.

He looked outside the window. You could slowly start seeing the outline of the ship. It.. was really big. He tapped the pilots shoulder.

"Can you send it a message?"

"Yeah. Opening up transmitter now."

A few button pushes later and the familiar static of open voice alerted him to speak.

"Unidentified vessel, this is the Jericho speaking, what is your purpose here?"

No response.

Nathan cleared his throat.

"Vessel, please respond."

Nothing.

Nathan cleared his throat again with a bit more force this time.

"Respond!"

What responded was not at all what he had expected. It was heavily, heavily synthesized. And cold. A dark, deep voice that was unlike anything he had ever heard before;

"Termination..."

Silence.

"You will be the first of many."

And with that, Red light. Red light had blasted forward and destroyed the ship entirely. Fire. Blood. Humans and aliens alike instantly spaced.

The choice between the Asari and the Human never came.

Jerry never had to worry about talking to his captain like that again.

No resolutions came.

Nathan John's saga had ended in red, bright glory. Destruction rained everywhere across the small area which had recently held such a lively and motivated crew that simply wanted to map the galaxy. Ended quickly and painfully by something that understood no emotion. The first of many.

Nathan John and his crew died that day.

Red light was the final thing they saw.

Red light would be the thing many people saw before they died.

* * *

"What, you going to break out and try something?"

"I am going to blow a hole so deep into your brain I'll see what kind of daddy issues you've had in the past."

"Say that again!"

"What, the giant hole in your near future, or when daddy touched your no-no spots?"

This was met by a fierce growl that sounded rather animalistic from the female human guard. She looked like she was about to come into the cell. She reached behind her, possibly going to ask permission to beat the crap out of him but the man beside her grabbed her arm and yanked it back rather roughly.

"Don't."

"Why the fuck can't I? This guy has way to big of a mouth for someone in prison."

"To big of a mouth? That's Clyde Shepard you're talking to, you know."

She couldn't help but look at him for a second like he was about to slap her. She looked back at the white-haired prisoner. His uniform ripped in many places, messy white hair washed like a curtain over his eyes. He laid against the wall and let out an annoyed sigh. Not this again. He sat down with no grace or any sort of fluidity, landing on the ground with a thump and a groan of discomfort.

"That? That's Shepard?"

"You haven't been here long, have you? Yeah, that's Shepard."

"I just got stationed here, yeah. Well, shit. What does that stop me from kicking his ass?" She said with a glare over at him that he hadn't noticed. He was staring at the floor.

"You really want to fight the Savior of the Citadel? Please, be my guest." He said irritably. "Just don't complain when you really do end up with a hole in your head."

"I'm not scared of waste." She growled. "He was always over-hyped in my eyes. Big whoop, he destroyed a ship pointing it's gun at the Citadel and killed some Geth. Impressive. And then what, he almost gets killed by some random ship in the terminus system?"

"Sitting _**right**_ here, you know.." Shepard responded airily.

"Who was asking you?" She snapped back.

"I'm just saying, if you want the Saga of Shepard I'm sure someone has written about it by now. Probably on the Citadel somewhere. You should go check it out."

"So I can read all about how you threatened the Council and worked with a terrorist organization?" She sneered at him. The male guard looked annoyed at her. If he was right, he even looked a bit apologetic.

"No, to read how I've probably saved more lives than you can count. That might not be saying to much though."

"Aren't you a fucking riot?"

"I try."

"Bet women looove you. Oh yeah, big ol' Commander Shepard. Wonder how that business will go after you're a jailrat?"

Women.

He let out a sigh.

He had tried not to think about Tali during his time in the prison, yet somehow it always came up in thoughts. Even having an argument with the guard apparently brought her up. It was like she was everywhere. Of course, he let himself delve into happy memories most of the time. The adorable wringing of her hands, the amazing night they spent together in his cabin before they went into the collectors base. Happy thoughts. Amazing thoughts, even.

However, sometimes it wasn't enough.

The guilt of feeling like he abandoned the galaxy in his immaturity and anger. Of leaving a girl he confessed love to. A crew with fucking _Miranda_ as the commander. Zaeed is probably going to shoot himself at this rate. Despite countless issues, the biggest one was always Tali.

He missed her. A lot.

It was almost like an explosion of happiness any time he remembered her smiling, cute face without the visor. And then an incredible cliff of despair whenever he remembered he was stuck. In here. This damn prison. And her, and an entirely ignorant and argumentative galaxy all alone.

Son of a bitch.

"What, no snide remark to that? Did I hit a sensitive spot?"

"That's enough." The older guard finally said. "Seriously. What are you gaining by taunting him like that? What if theirs a riot and the prisoners try to escape on the ship that's boarding later today? Who's he gonna come for first?"

Ship?

Shepards ears perked up. He was no longer looking at the floor, instead looking at the two guards conversing from the outside of his cell. He slowly pushed off the ground into a standing position, his eyes now focused on the pair of guards.

"Theirs a ship coming here?" She asked.

"Yeah. Visiting hours got kind of thrown out the window when it comes to prison ships. However when enough credits are concerned, we make an exception sometimes. Heavily monitored of course."

"I see." She said. "I'm pretty uninformed, apparently."

"You get used to it." He said with a shrug. "But that's not the point. The point is, don't put yourself in that position in-case the worst does happen."

"I'm not afraid of him even if he does get out."

"Look, carelessness like that will get you killed. Like that starship that got roasted trying to map the new system. Went in, unprepared, and got destroyed and nobody knows who or why."

What?

Shepard moved closer to the orange light containing him in the cell. A ship being destroyed in unknown space? Bad feeling.

"Woah, Woah." Shepard said quickly. "What's this about a ship being destroyed?"

"Who asked you?" He heard the familiar snide feminine voice answer.

"Not you. I'm pretty sure you'd have to try and invent something to get guys to talk to you. Love potions were pretty big back in the day, you should look into it."

"You son of a-"

The male guard held up a hand in-front of her to silence her. She looked like she wanted to keep fighting about it, but decided against it and settled with a simple glare.

"Nobody knows." The guard said with a shrug. "Only thing thats known is that the ship must have been huge to blast the Jericho into pieces like that so easily. Nobody knows much other than that though."

A huge ship with a lot of firepower. His thoughts immediately warped into the worst possible scenario. A Reaper? Already? No, No. Their are a ton of ships with a lot of firepower. Don't jump too conclusions, Clyde. It's not time yet. He let out a sigh of relaxation. Got too antsy for a second there.

"So." Shepard said finally. "Did they recover anything from the wreckage?"

"A bit." He said eerily.

"I don't like how you put that." Shepard responded slowly.

"Yeah.. well. It was a voice recorder that survived the blast. It's on most ships and it's designed to be resistant. It's so they can listen to it too decide what caused the crash."

No, no, no. Shepard's eyes had grown from the narrowed, tired expression they normally carried.

"Annnd..." Shepard said, he turned his head to the side slightly, keeping his eyes fixed on the guard. "What was wrong with it?"

"Well.. before it went out and the recording gets cut off, there is a conversation between the two ships. And.. well.. the other ship.. it sounded weird. Unnatural."

Unnatural.

Shepard felt a tight knot form in his stomach from fear and tension. No. No way.

Impossible.

His voice held a lot more worry and concern than he had intended.

"What did it sound like?" Shepard said quietly. "What? What did it sound like?"

"Shut up, Shepard." The female said angrily. "What's it even matter to you? You're stuck in prison. What, gonna go running off too save the galaxy from whatever this is too?"

Shepard couldn't find the words to respond to her. He may have to if it what it was thinking of. He looked from her, to the older guard. He pleaded with his eyes to let him know. This was important, more important than either of them could imagine. He knew however that he could not explain what this may entail. Nobody would believe him yet.

"As in.. it sounded dark. Evil. Malicious.."

He felt his shoulders go down a bit. Okay. Maybe it wasn't that bad. Maybe an evil genius like Dr Heart with a cold or something. A grin started to form on his face, about to laugh at himself for his own stupidity.

"Machine-Like."

It was then that all time froze for Clyde Shepard. The galaxy as he knew it had frozen. His eyes closed on instinct in horror. He had only been in prison for six months and a Reaper had shown up? The knot in his stomach loosened, instead an icy chill of fear and worry and new problems now ran and raced through his body.

His teeth pressed together.

His fists clenched into balls.

His eyes closed in the utmost horror.

And then he said the only thing he knew how to say, or to even somewhat some up the situation. A groan escaping his lips. His hands unclenched briefly to come up and open over his face, wiping the sweat off of it.

"Fuck me **sideways**." Shepard groaned.

The guards looked at him puzzled. Of course they did. They had absolutely no idea what that was. What that could possibly mean. What it entailed was the fast approaching doom that was the Reapers. How many were here? One? Fifty? Three hundred? Thousands? Was the entire fleet here and were slowly moving towards them as he sat here in this very cell? Or were they plotting? Could they do that?

Fuck.

FUCK!

"Fuck, Fuck." Shepard said angrily. He needed to get out. That was it. That's all he needed to know. All he needed to hear. Tali, Garrus, Miranda, Zaeed, Kasumi, Mordin, Jacob, Legion, Grunt, Thane and Samara.

"I can't wait anymore." He said in a hushed whisper.

This ship. It was his ticket. He needed to get it, grab it and go.. somewhere. Anywhere. Omega? Illium? Where?

One step at a time, Shepard.

The guards didn't know how to take the now pacing and constant face-washing Shepard. He didn't know how long he sat there, if they asked any more questions, but Shepard found himself alone with his thoughts. His doubts. And his grief.

He let himself remember what Mordin had told him;

"Shepard. New upgrade show terrific results in power amplification and condensity! Better than hoped. Fascinating. Power upgrade in biotic fighting power and biotic waves extraordinary. Be careful. Not sure what could arise with over-use or strain on biotic activity. Try to keep it passive, Shepard."

His arm was already wrapping itself with blue light. He let out a sigh. He knew everything was resistant to biotics around here, or else every biotic would be able to get out.

"Sorry, Mordin." He said outloud.

"Looks like I'm going to have to break your rules already."

* * *

"Just come on, Tal!"

"What? What are you- hey! Quit pulling so hard!"

"Well go faster you slow poke!"

Kasumi grinned over at the puzzled Quarian being tugged by her wrist into Kasumi's space, the Port Observation deck. This seemed random. The two had become good friends over the course of their journey, but they hadn't actually sought privacy to talk to one another before. Tali could only wonder what the mischievous thief was planning. Would it be awkward? Comforting? Only time would tell.

"Kasumi-"

"Just, shut up." Kasumi said with a giggle. "We haven't talked like this before and you definitely need some cheering up. Do you know anyone as cheery as me?"

"Wha- Cheering up?" Tali said confused. "I-I'm fine. And do you remember where we're going? We have a lot to do and plan-"

"Tali, you've planned so much the last few weeks that I'm pretty sure you are on the verge of melting down everyones eyes and ears. You haven't had any time to take care of yourself personally. This is what it's for."

"What?" Tali said with a bit of offense. "I—What? Kasumi, please. I really need to get back to work. I need to-"

"Tali, shut up." Kasumi said again a little more seriously. "We all know what this is for and how much it means to you especially."

Kasumi's hands gripped her wrist a little tighter. She had been pulled into the observation deck. Kasumi sat down, patting the space beside her for Tali to join her.

"We're going to get Shepard back."

It being said out-loud made Tali's heart skip. Shepard. No, no. Clyde, he was coming back. This plan was going to work. It had to. The ship- He probably hasn't heard about it yet. He needs to know. And he needed to come back.

Which is why this can't happen.

"Exactly, Kasumi and I really need to make sure that it goes perfectly."

"And it will, so relax a little. All your emotions are gonna get bottle-necked at this rate, you loser."

"What does that even mean?" Tali said with obvious impatience and irritation. "This is nice of you, but, really, I need to go."

Tali had got up and started leaving the Observation deck, but Kasumi had lept from the couch and grabbed her by her left arm.

"It can live without you." Kasumi said with a grin. "You need some time for you."

"You don't get it." Tali said with her eyes narrowing behind her visor. "You _don't _get it. You can't. I lost him once already, and dammit I am _**not **_losing him again!"

Tali's eyes widened at her own sudden outburst of emotion. Kasumi's eyes were also widened underneath her cloak. Tali felt a bit embarrassed; She shouldn't have gotten that into it. She had to stay in her right mind without her emotions coming into check. She had to get Shepard back for the Reapers, not for her. For the Galaxy, not for her. She didn't matter. She was insignificant in the grand scheme of things.

Shepard was not.

"I can't, Kasumi. I don't matter, it's Shepard who matters."

"He would get really mad hearing something like that, you know." Kasumi said. She had pulled her too the couch again. "Just, sit down Tal."

Tali looked hesitant, looking at the couch as though it was made of something dangerous. She moved towards it, slowly sitting herself on the comforting furniture. She let out a sigh and looked over at the thief.

"Well.. what is it? What do you want to talk about?" Tali asked with irritation.

"It's not me, you dolt." Kasumi said with another giggle. "It's you. How are you doing? You haven't talked to anyone about Shepard, you know."

How was she doing? Probably about as well as the rest of the ship.

It had been six months since Clyde was willingly arrested. Six long, depressing months. When it happened, for a few weeks everyone still seemed positive. Everyone worked with the same expression, everyone was nice to everyone still and everything went fine. It didn't last that long. Disputes came between crew members out of pure emotion and annoyance with each-other without the friendly atmosphere Clyde brought with him.

Joker didn't make as many jokes. Garrus calibrated the weapons more than ever. It was liked someone had sucked the life out of the Normandy.

In Tali's mind, that is what happened.

Herself? Tali? She didn't talk to anyone about it. She spent all her days with a bit more irritability and tendency to snap out. She felt drained. She spent a couple nights crying without him, but it got better. She went two years without him before, but they were never as close as they were when he left this time. She had a hard time sleeping without Clyde always next to her.

Even Kelly, who always seemed rather positive was emptier than usual. It was surreal to see so much depression around the Normandy.

However, it was renewed awhile ago. When the news of the Jericho being destroyed was sent around, she knew what she had to do. Everyone did the moment the plan started coming together. The soul of the Normandy came back. Everyone worked towards it. New ideas, new plans. It was time to get the Commander back. Tali snapped out of her tired ghost state and instantly formed it.

Shepard.

Clyde..

"How am I doing?" Tali said a bit sarcastically after a long pause. "What kind of question is that? I'm fine, aren't I?"

"No. You're not." Kasumi said as though she something as obvious as the weather.

Tali looked at her a bit dumbfounded for a second. She let her shoulders slump and relaxed against the couch. She won.

"No. I'm not fine." Tali admitted a bit sadly. "I—He.. I just want him back. And it feels selfish. I shouldn't want him back because I want him back, I should want him back because hes going to save the galaxy."

"Don't you want him for both?" Kasumi asked with a laugh.

"Well, yes, but-"

"Then that's that. Nobody would ever blame you for wanting him back badly, especially you."

This was strange. Talking to someone about how she missed Clyde was strange. That was a good term for it. However, it felt.. better. Like a knot slowly becoming undone.

"I-I guess."

"So, why are you keeping to yourself so much? Ever since Shepard left you've been like a ghost around the ship."

"It-It's what I did when I lost him the first time." Tali admitted. "I had nobody to talk to, really. Nobody could understand.. and I had all these feelings for him too, and I never told him. It just felt like my own private world had ended." Her hands were starting to close over each-other now. They didn't wring yet.

"So it's instinct to keep to yourself?"

"I guess you could say that." Tali sighed.

"Well, I'm here now. It helps. Really, it does. So spill it."

Tali looked up from her hands and looked at the thief with slightly wider eyes. Someone to confide into.. about Shepard.

"I don't really know how to start. I miss him. It's like someone has a hold of me and won't let go. I.. I had trouble sleeping for awhile. I just.. I miss him. What else is there to say?"

"I'm not here to be a therapist, Tal. I'm just trying to cheer you up. Like, now; Sheps coming home in a week. We'll be ready. And you'll be responsible with this plan of yours. I can't believe this prison is that stupid. We're his crew and we're 'just visiting'? Really?"

Tali couldn't help but let out a bit of a laugh. It was silly when you said it out-loud, but it was going to work. And he had to make sure it was going to work. And here she was talking to someone about the man they were going to save.

Tali didn't say anything. Instead she solemnly looked around the room admiring the antiques and other surely stolen property Kasumi furnished herself with before her thoughts were interrupted by the thief yet again.

"You're so in love it's almost sickening." Kasumi said with a mischevious giggle.

Tali was expecting to blush, expecting to spit out a retort. However, it didn't. Only a smile crossed her features underneath the suit.

"Yes.. I am." Tali said. "I love him so much it's just.. It's unbearable to not have him around."

"I know I get mad at him a lot, but I love him because and in-spite of all the eccentric behaviour. He makes me laugh like nobody else does. He's such a smooth talker. He's a complete dummy and doesn't know what to do half the time but it's amazing. I just.."

Tali's voice cracked at the end of the sentence. Dammit! Why was she talking about this? However, the chest had been unlocked. Their was no undoing it.

"I can't walk the same when he's around. It's like I can't even breath without him. I want to laugh at his jokes. I want to smack him when he's stupid. I want to wake up to see his face. And I shouldn't want him for all that, it feels selfish. I should want him to come back because I want him to make everyone feel like that, not just me."

Tali's voice had cracked several times. She let out a sad noise of relief. Kasumi had moved closer to her, still wearing the same grin at her.

"I know exactly how it feels." Kasumi said a bit more somberly, which seemed a bit odd considering her expression. "I lost someone too, you know. I had to go through that whole process. He's not gone, you know. I bet Shep thinks about you every night and it's gonna drive him to tear out that beautiful hair of his."

Tali looked at her with shock and a bit of confusement. Kasumi let out a laugh.

"What? I like the long hair!"

"It is amazing." Tali said with a nervous laugh. "Don't ever let him hear that one. He'll go berserk and I won't be able to put him in his place anymore.

"Roger that." Kasumi said with another laugh.

Tali did feel better, she couldn't deny it. Talking about how she truly felt had lifted something off of her chest. It felt dramatic. She felt more.. understanding. And more positive.

"Thank you." She said with a nod. "This.. it really did help. I wasn't actually expecting it to."

"Just come see me whenever Shep decides to get himself arrested. I'll be your little upper." Kasumi laughed.

They sat in silence for a few moments. Kasumi patiently waiting for her to say something. Tali mulling over the thoughts of finally getting Shepard back. She felt much better. Not as much pessimism flooded her brain anymore. She slowly began to sit up from the couch, nodding at the thief before starting towards the door.

"Oh, by the way." Kasumi hollered out. "When he gets back, please don't go at it to hard with the welcome-back sex. You guys are loud."

"Kasumi!" Tali shrieked.

* * *

So. As you can probably tell, The conversation with the guard's comes after the last segment with Kasumi/Tali. That was a bit longer than I thought!

So. Yes. I couldn't tell you when Chapter 7 is going to come out. I actually had this written for awhile, and kept editing crap. I hate reading my own writing. Really.

Anyways. Stay tuned, folks. Action, explosions, and a whole lot of biotic pain named Clyde Shepard in the next one!


	7. The Delay

Now. I know I'm not supposed to do this. But, I'm almost positive nobody goes to my profile. Not that I blame you. It's so bland. And has mario on it. Bleh.

Anyways. I do feel like I owe it anyone who actually reads this an explanation.

So, allow me to explain in a rather silly and completely unnecessary-but-hopefully-will-save-my-ass way.

Clyde Shepard Says;

So. Pretty much, for the people who don't want to hear the boring tale of Requiesca, he got a review. A couple, actually, for my rather fantastic journey. However, one stuck out. Now, I should explain, Reqy boy here is a bit of an idiot. He can't proofread for shit. And it's been, well, noticed. He was right, of course. Req appreciated the critique. However, between his own procrastination, his own hatred for his own writing (which is part of the original problem) and other personal demands, the writing has come to a complete stand-still.

The bastard (Almost said bugger. Damn Dragon-Age 2.) even has 2 chapters half-written. What a shit.

So, thats it, then. The story might be canceled completely, or it might be just on hold till he either decides hes a good enough writer to keep going or gets a muse back. One or the other, really. Anyway, I hope you all liked what you saw!

Clyde Out.


	8. It's Coming

You _**sons a bitches! **_

Now. I decided to write again. Why? I finally forced myself to read those gosh darn nice reviews you people left me on my resignation chapter. And, well. This is the result. I'm still slightly disgruntled about.. yknow, the whole writing thing, but I got this feverish desire to create something. So I had to get some sort of medium.

That medium comes in the form of d'awwwfulness at the hands of myself and Clyde Shepard.

Don't think that this chapter has no plot development, however! I threw in a curveball. The idea is cliché', but hey, I like cliché. Suffer.

Get reading, you little rascals.

* * *

_**Chapter 7: It's Coming.**_

His mind was swimming. Everything seemed so.. peaceful. Fully embracing the calm, coming darkness. No more headaches. No prison cells or overly excited scientists. Everything was.. right. Everything was just _fantastic. _He could sit here and be completely content in the comforting maelstrom of dizzy darkness that he had fallen in love with. No headaches, either. He must have forgot to mention that to himself. He really must keep him in better check. Who else would keep track of him if he didn't? Shepard's mind groaned under the strain of thought he put on it. This was a very bad time to think. A _very _bad time. Then again, only he could think of reasons to delve into deep thought when he couldn't even process where he was.

The darkness was replaced by something. Sort of a.. conscience. Awareness that he was awake. No longer simply staring at the empty void comforted only by the thoughts of his ever-so pessimistic brain. He was awake. Eyes closed, head pounding and with a very large urge for something to drink. He could hear other voices. The more the voices talked, the more familiar they sounded. Good. Maybe they could get him something to get rid of the headache _and _a drink. Kill two birds with one stone. This darkness wasn't so bad, apparently.

Something else was in his head though. Why was he here? What was he doing before he got here? Nothing should have this kind of effect unless he died or something to that effect. Was Cerberus rebuilding him for the second time as he thought about this in the endless pit of black? The thought was a bit funny. He couldn't die again. That would go against the great plan! Or.. something like that.

As though an angel had heard his overly curious mind, light filled his eyes. The look of a roof. He was on a table. It was really cold. He was confused for a second. However, a rush of memory filled him. Mordin. He was getting the surgery done for his biotics. Right. So it looked like he didn't die. With a rush of memory and bright light filling his eyes, he felt relieved. However, the first thing that he could say rushed out his lips in loud, pain-filled glory.

"_HOT, _**SEARING **_**PAIN!" **_Shepard groaned loudly. The shock of the sudden voice alerted Dr. Chakwas and Mordin, who were both apparently off doing something else in the same room as him. Mordin quickly bustled over to his side, looking at him as though he was a frog with gold in him. Ready to be dissected.

"Shepard! Glad you're awake. Surgery complete success now! How do you feel?" Mordin asked eagerly.

"Like someone is jabbing needles into my _**brain." **_Shepard seethed with glaring eyes at the scientist. Mordin however either did not care or did not hear him as he rapidly typed into an omnitool. Dr. Chakwas however seemed a little more concerned. Friends. Not dissecting scientists. Yay.

"You've been out for awhile, Shepard." Dr. Chakwas said. "Gave me a little bit of a scare. Mordin assured me it would be fine, but I didn't want to take a chance and let my guard down."

For some reason, Shepards face dropped slightly, his jaw opening. His face turned to the left to face his old friend.

"Doctor." Shepard said with a small, nervous laugh. "If you say 'you've been gone for two years and everyone thinks you're dead' so help me god-"

"Just twenty-four hours, Shepard." Dr. Chakwas said with a small laugh. Shepard let out a sigh to accompany it. A whole day. That didn't even include how long he may have to stay in here. He didn't know much about biotics but he could only imagine that it wouldn't be as simple as a get-in-and-get-out job and the feeling of a Krogan pounding his brain into nothing short of goo seemed to amplify the thought. Alas, the fact that he was alive spread some relief through his body. It could have been much worse. He could be dead. Dying was never good. Personal experience taught him this fact.

"So.. Mordin?" Shepard groaned slightly. "How'd it go?"

"Fine, Shepard. Alive, aren't you?" Moridn pipped. "No serious consequences revealed. Will watch further of course. Fine for now though."

"Excellent." Shepard said. His upper body left the table, his body finally ready to leave and start moving again but a sharp spike of pain in his head and a sharp "No!" from Chakwas immediately had him laying back down only wishing to go back to his small dark abyss he had. It didn't have crappy shit like headaches and pain. A small, pain-filled laughter was the only thing coming out of his lips.

"Would have been helpful to know that!" Shepard shot at Chakwas. "Really! What part of 'move equals pain' did you leave out?"

"Well, forgive me sir but I would have thought moving after major surgery would be common sense." Chakwas said calmly.

"Sorry, I was born without such a courtesy." Shepard replied. "I take it I'm bed-ridden for awhile, then."

"Not that long. You should be on your feet within the week." Chakwas said. "Is it that bad? I worry about side-effects when we delve into serious matters."

"No, I'm just bitching." Shepard said with a small shrug. "It does hurt _quite _a bit though, the ol' Shepard Brain. I think you should be worried about that. My brain is your job, after all."

"You are so full of yourself." Chakwas laughed, taking a couple steps towards the exit of the medical bay. "I'll get you something for your head-ache. Anything else?"

"Two things. One, can you take Captain Poke'N'Prod over here with you?" Shepard said in direction to a unaware Mordin who was still rapidly typing.

"I'll see what I can do. Anything else?"

"Tali."

"Pardon?"

Shepard looked at her as though she had said something completely stupid. One eyebrow cocked to the top of his head, the arrogant confused smirk that only Clyde Shepard could muster plastered on his features.

"T. A. L. I. Tali. You know, my girlfriend? The feisty little Quarian down in engineering?"

"Yes, I know who Tali is, Shepard, but what-"

"You asked what I wanted. I want Tali."

It took a few seconds before Chakwas seemed to put it together. A revelation came up, her eyes widened slightly before a "Oh!" sounded out. A nod towards the commander and that was that. A few minutes later, Mordin bustled out after a message on his omni-tool. Silently wondering if that was Chakwas, he laid in his bed, eyes glued to the roof. Peace. Quiet. He almost wanted to just pass out right here again. However between the massive headache and the prospect of Tali coming up sleeping was low on the agenda. Very low, actually. So low it was barely in his mind.

He had questions. He couldn't lie to himself. Shepard normally liked to fly by and see what happens, but curiosity killed him. How would his biotics be now? He wanted to spar with Garrus or someone and see the effects. Wanted to test it out. It was like someone had given him a new ship and told them to sit in a bed for a week until they could use it. Same scenario? Not really, but to Shepard, it fit perfectly. With a groan of defiance, Shepards back left the table one more time, only to slam back into it when his head roared out in anger.

Okay. No more of that.

He wasn't sure how long he sat there, admiring the ceiling regardless of the pain in his head. He brain-stormed ideas. Where to go? Where did his plan start? How would the council respond to his plan anyways? Hell, how would the council respond to _him? _The prospect of meeting the council was daunting enough, but to basically say; 'Hey. I'm Shepard. I'm right! Listen to my insanely outrageous plan or else the Reapers will use your skin for gloves!' didn't seem like the right approach. Especially not with that _stupid _Turian.

The plan could work, though. The Quarians and the Geth would be.. a lot to handle on his own and insanely emotional for Tali. The Krogan tribes, as stubborn as they are.. he shared his vision with Wrex. Hell, him and the politicians. The galaxy was a broken place, but they didn't have time for petty arguments and stupid child squabbles.

He was zoned out enough that he had not noticed the suited feminine figure looking down at him as though waiting for acknowledgement. It was not until a smack hit his chest did he turn in confusion, looking into the visor of a Quarian.

"Well hello there my beautiful purple-suited princess." Shepard cooed. "Please tell me you are here to place Nurse. I could use the boost. My head feels like Grunt is stepping on it."

Tali had a mixed look. Her posture looked more like she wanted to slap him but what he could make of her face had a thoroughly amused look plastered on it. Shepard grinned up at her with an innocent shine in his eyes only to receive the small smack to his cheek he was afraid of.

"You know, I think your.. what was that? 'Purple-Suited Princess' has better things to do besides come up here and babysit you." Tali mused.

"I heavily disagree!" Shepard said with a shocked voice. "I'm the most important thing on this ship, thank you."

"Really? I'm pretty sure without an engine we couldn't fly, Clyde."

"Yeah, well, I'm pretty sure without me you'd be _dead._" Shepard grinned. "I think I win out here. Don't argue it, just nod and go along with me like you always do."

A small giggle and another smack on his shoulder was his response. Shepard moved his arms out in a hug gesture, which Tali happily hopped into only to be tugged onto the left-over space on the bed. Shepard quickly wrapped his left arm around her shoulders with a mischievous look on his face.

"I wanted you here because I'm bed-ridden and won't be down to bug you in engineering. I can't have you doing productive things. Against my persona." Shepard said matter-of-factly. "And I need someone to comfort me while I suffer through this headache. That person, unfortunately, is you."

"Oh, I don't mind that much, Commander." Tali said. "I don't know if it's the engineers job to nurse you back to health though."

"Well, the Normandy isn't like other ships. Even the rules are different."

"Oh?"

"Yeah. Rule one; Commander Shepard gets to have the pretty girl in the body-suit look after him."

"Where was that rule on the original Normandy?" Tali mused.

Shepard looked at her for a second before he rolled his eyes. Lately with how great the relationship with Tali has been, he had really began to regret not starting something with her originally. The amusing thought was him asking her out in the middle of saving her on the Citadel. The stern, Quarian voice screaming "No!" at him with gunshots everywhere brought a smile to his face.

"God." Shepard said finally. "I should have had that rule on the original Normandy. Would have made everything much easier. Saren? Bah."

"Maybe it's good then. We wouldn't have gotten anything done."

"Tali, if I had it my way, I don't think you'd ever leave this position."

With that said, Tali snuggled up a little closer to him. Shepard let the peace of the situation flow into him. It was nice. No Reapers. No council. No anything. It almost made him wish that he had just met Tali outside of this. Before Saren. They could have had more moments like this. Tali seemed to notice something astray with the look on his face, a small tap from one of the three fingers she had poking him in the chest.

"Shepard?"

"Clyde."

"Clyde, Yes. What's with that expression?"

"Nothing, really." Shepard said. "Really. Just me.. well, being me. What if we had met under different circumstances?"

Confused by the sheer randomness or confused by the question itself, he couldn't tell. Tali's slightly raised head however pointed to something he had said being of the abnormal quality. Shepard flashed an apologetic look.

"That must have been random."

"I'm starting to think your brain doesn't have a filter on it."

"I don't think I do either." Shepard said with a laugh. "That doesn't answer my question though."

"What, you think I only stumbled over my words and tried to find excuses to talk to you because you saved me back on the Citadel?"

"Well, not _that, _but-"

"Good. I would have been fine, anyway." Tali said with a small laugh. "I don't love just the idea of you, Clyde. Sure, the whole dashing, powerful man who saves your life would be nice for most girls, but I don't care about that. I love you for you. For the stupid jokes you make and that damn smirk you get when you know you're right."

"Really? The smirk?"

"That's not important, Clyde." Tali said sternly. "I'm sure that if you weren't the man who saved the Citadel I still would love you just the same. As long as you didn't try to be clever when you first tried to talk to me."

"What, you don't think 'Hey, I have a suit too. It's called the man-suit. Wanna see?' would have went over well?"

The laughter from Tali made the stupidity of the question all worth it. He let out a small chuckle with her, squeezing her just slightly tighter, moving in closer. He clasped one of her hands into his, raising it to his mouth and giving it a small peck on the top of the middle finger.

"For the record, you are thee _only _thing I am self conscious about."

"Good. I guess I can hold something over your head then, can't I?" Tali teased. "Now, I think I need to go back to work."

"No."

"Clyde."

"Tali?"

"Let me go."

"Didn't I just answer this question?"

"Clyde."

Shepard looked at her. Contemplating if he should let her go and suffer the day without her. They could get along fine without her down there, couldn't they? With a sigh, he didn't let his irresponsibility get the better of him. His arms released themselves from the hold they had on Tali and slumped back to his sides. Tali slid off the bed, a stretch following it.

"Tali?"

"Mmm?"

"Come up to my room tonight. Saaay.. Six hours or so? Yeah, she should be back by then. Six hours." Shepard said.

"Who's 'she?'" Tali asked curiously. "And why?"

"Well, we are docked on the citadel, aren't we? You wouldn't believe what they sell here. Found something that.. well, I don't know if its meant for it, but it'll be good enough for what I have planned. I had Kasumi go fetch it for me before I went under."

Tali looked as curious as someone in a suit possibly could. Her head was tilted in the most adorable fashion he could ever dream of. A small, slightly synthesized laugh broke the small curious silence she had enduced.

"I'll see what I can do then." Tali said coyly.

"That means yes, right?"

"That means I'll see what I can do."

"Which is yes."

Tali let out a small groan of frustration, which was normally the signal for him to stop his rabble and let it go. Before he got another word off already, Tali's hand hit the air and waved to him goodbye. Defeated, he laid there with a new smile plastered on his face, eyes once again glued to the ceiling. Part of him hoped that Kasumi wouldn't come back with it. Hell, Rings weren't exactly found in many places and it was a miracle a shop on the Citadel had one. A proposal? Would Tali even understand what it meant? She might. She should. She did research on humans. He just hoped that she knew that much.

He hated this. He was way to nervous. How he had not managed to show-case it at all was amazing to it because he was compressing them? Or is it because he just can't manage to be anything but positive around Tali? Dammit.

A nervous sigh.

Shepard grinned.

"Why is it only Tali that makes me nervous?" Shepard sighed to himself peacefully. He needed to sleep. It would calm his nerves.

Sleep was good.

His eyes closed. His head slowly started to feel better, the pain of his brain subsiding just enough for him to be able to feel like he could pass out. Kasumi wouldn't be back for awhile. It was just enough time for him to remove the headache from the equation. If not, and he woke up with the headache still firmly lodged in his brain he would just have to suck it up. His eyes were lodged shut, brain turning off for the time before a voice cracked the air.

"_**Look who we found!"**_

A foreign voice. A voice he had never heard before. Shepard's head whipped in the direction he had just seen Tali leave. It was a mans voice. Rough. Hardened. Was it Zaeed? Who the hell would he find on this ship that he hadn't seen before? And why exactly did that come as soon as he was asleep? The curious look on Shepard's face did not dissipate, even as he slowly closed his eyes to try and go back to sleep. A rest. It would calm his nerves, make the random voices disappear and hopefully clear the mind-splitting headache he had brought upon himself.

What could go wrong?

"_**Who the hell is she?"**_

Shepards eyes shot open at this statement. A different voice. The same kind though. Who the hell was here that he was unaware of? A groan of fierce annoyance echoed across the medbay. He caught himself glaring at the door.

"Who the hell is there?" Shepard yelled.

"_**I don't know! Don't think she's been here before. Have any of you seen her?"**_

The first voice again. This wasn't just a random voice. Someone was on the ship. Unless the new surgery had implanted mini-EDI's into his brain without his consent, something that seemed crazy even for Mordin's standards, then something weird was going on. Shepard had to sit up. His back started to leave the bed, expecting a shriek of pain and defiance from his brain. He was expecting the feeling of a foot crunching his skull. His back rose ever so slightly, little by little growing off the comfortable bedding, ready for his head to yell at him for such stupidity and unnecessary action. The brain was always a tricky thing, especially when it was crying in pain.

Yet their was no pain.

Shepard rose from his bed without any soreness. Without any pain, without any skull-crunching madness. His confusement only escalated. Ten minutes ago he couldn't even begin to think about standing. Now he was fine? Now he could sit up?

Was he hallucinating?

Was he still dreaming?

Wait, still dreaming?

He slowly began to move off the bed. His legs slowly drooped off the bed, hanging loosely over the side. Shepard was gazing off into the empty space of the medbay. He saw Chakwas leave. Tali leave. The lights were on, everything was.. normal. Maybe this was just a side-effect of the surgery. They _were _doing brain surgery. He shook his head. Mordin never said anything about hallucinations. Mordin never forgot to tell him _anything. _That wasn't possible.

And then there was nothing.

Absolutely nothing.

It was more than just someone turning off the lights. It was like someone had removed everything from existence. It was black. Really black. Nothing was in his vision. No trace of light, no trace of.. anything, really. It was like him and his comfy and every-so-needed bed were the first things created. It was just.. dark. Yet he could see his hands in-front of his face, his bed that he had been sleeping on for a really long time, and the urine that was coming through his pants.

Well, not yet anyway. It was getting to that point on the freakish meter though.

"Great," Shepard said hysterically to himself. "I'm thinking of pissing myself."

The darkness was.. empty. It was like he was suddenly suspended in empty space with no stars in sight. No life in sight. He closed his eyes and shook his head almost to the point of dizzyness only to open his eyes and see nothing different in the endless shadow. Even the voices that had littered his mind before this happened were gone, as though emptied into the darkness itself. If he was dreaming, then it was one hell of a vivid dream. He was expecting something to come out. Hell, maybe even something to talk to him. Shepard slowly moved his further down the bed, trying to feel for ground that he was sure wasn't there.

It was.

His foot felt the floor. The floor of the medbay, he was sure. Another violent shake of his head was the only thing his brain could muster. He was lost. What in the hell was happening?

Slowly, he put his weight on his legs, his body rising to its full height, taking a few cautious steps to make sure that he wasn't going to suddenly plummet through the floor. His head whirled from the right to the left, looking for a sign of.. well, anything.

"_There is nothing good that can come from this."_ His mind groaned.

"_**I.. Ear.. ..art, ..Epard." **_

This voice.. was familiar. His eyes closed. A sigh from his very core escaped him. A haunted voice. A voice that he had heard far to many times. A voice that he had heard right way to many times. A voice that made him laugh sometimes. A voice in his nightmares like this was becoming. A voice that he just plain hated in every single sense of the word. His body and head slowly turned around, looking for the even more familiar figure responsible for the broken threat. It was broken english, sure. It sounded more like it was coming from a static radio, but nothing could mistake it.

"You know, I'm already freaked out enough as it is. I really don't need you here," Shepard said with a tang of panicked laughter.

It wasn't what he was expecting. Instead of a orange collector, it was a simple light. A ball of yellow light that seemed to pulse every few seconds. The familiar light that he remembered taunting him. Yelling at him. Who he even yelled _at. _Taunted during his run near the end of his fight with the collectors.

"What do you want, Harbinger?" Shepard cooed.

His voice displayed a calm attitude.. Shepard was anything but. This was now transcending freaky. A ball of light with the same voice as that obnoxious loud-mouth he blasted over and over again was now floating near him. Joking when he was scared. Always a terrible trait of his.

No response from the Christmas light.

"So, is this where you give me the warning of the Reapers super-awesome plans of galactic extermination? Or are you here for some tea?"

His palms were drenched in sweat.

"Are you the reason why it's so damn _**dark? **_Really. You killed a really good mood."

A slight tremor in his legs. This was different then fear. This was something foreign. A different feeling. Supreme confusion, maybe.

"Are you going to say something, or am I just going to sit here and make something up?"

The light pulsed. Shepard took a step forward, almost tempted to yank the light out of the darkness. This was freaky. Collectors? Sure. Giant Reaper children, on a good day? Sure. Weird freaky orange lights in the pitch darkness that make him think of a psycho that used to talk to him through collectors?

No thank you.

However, before another word left his mouth, the sound filled his ears again. Intelligible, and filled with Harbingers voice, but it was like it was coming through a broken radio. As though it was trying to communicate galaxies away.

"Why do you resist us, Shepard?"

A line he had heard before. However, no less disturbing that _a piece of light _had said it. Shepard took a step forward. Then one back. Then another one forward. He wouldn't get anything else from this from body language. He almost wanted to try and swat it like a fly. Maybe it would induce some pain. He could tell if this was real or not.

"Why do I resist you?" Shepard said as calmly as he could force himself. However, the sarcastic laugh slipped through the words ever-so-slightly. "Nobody else does. I feel like being a rebel. You know, one of those days where you wake up and you decide to fight off machines hell-bent on galactic genocide."

No response.

Not a pulse. Not even a sign that the light was nothing more than an oddly shaped light-bulb. Shepard reached back and scratched the back of his neck, fighting back sigh's that ached to cross his lips. He almost felt like he was being interrogated. As though the small marble of light was sizing him up in some way.

Before another nerve-induced sarcastic comment left his lips, the light spoke.

"Evolution cannot be stopped."

Another line he had heard before. A bemused look crossed his face rather briefly which was followed by a few steps towards the object. Was it mocking him? Maybe trying to argue with him? Shepard let one of the sigh's escape him. Here he was, in the pitch darkness arguing with a ball of light that represents a Reaper named Harbinger who used to inhabit the bodies of aliens harvesting humans.

"_Yep. You've lost it. Congratulations."_ Shepards mind sneered.

"Evolution?" Shepard said ignoring his brains taunting. "Evolution.. funny, really. I used to think that went the _**complete **_opposite of what you're trying to do."

Once again, silence. It was almost like whatever it said was set for a certain time-frame. This was getting annoying. The purpose of completely turning the lights off and coming to him was already avoiding him, but now he felt like he had been taunted. Mocked. Shepard squished his hands into balls. It was the only thing he could do. This was a stupid situation. He had gone from freaked out, to amused, to annoyed all in minutes.

"You cannot stop us, Shepard."

Another line he had heard before. A cry of raw annoyance and frustration left his lips.

"Damnit would you say something _**else?" **_Shepard growled. "What is the point of this? You turn off the lights to freak me out and then repeat the same crap I've heard from you a thousand different times before?" Shepard's mind had forgotten about the omnious dark feeling that was here before. Annoyance and anger at the ball of light took it's place. The thought's of fighting the Reapers all rushed into his body and thought process at once.

"You are _**dead. **_Do you understand that? The entire galaxy is going to turn your super-fleet into the trophy I'm going to get when we're done scrapping you. I blame the Reapers for Jenkins dying. I blame the Reapers for Kaidan dying. I blame the Reaper's for _**me **_dying. And so help me god, I am going to condense _**every single ounce **_of that blame and drive it so hard down the Reaper fleet's throat I'll be able to see just what makes you fucking tick."

A few pants left him. He took a couple deep breaths. This probably wasn't the best environment to get angry at the person probably responsible for the complete darkness around him, but he didn't care. He had grown tired of the taunting, grown tired of the crap. He finally had a chance to say just exactly what he wanted to say to Harbinger when he talked when he ran out of the collector base.

And still he said nothing.

"You know what? Fine. Fuck you, fuck your Reapers, fuck everything. I quit." Shepard seethed, throwing his hands towards the ball of light and turning his back to it. This was stupid. And he had no way out, either. This was either all one very vivid hallucination or a ball of light really was messing with his mentality. Either way, nothing about this was good. And he was frustrated with it all. He was either going to lay here till he snapped out of it or Harbinger was going to keep him here till he got bored with being a broken record. And She-

"We are already here, Shepard."

What?

Shepard's eyes widened as far as they could, his body whipping around to face the haunting voice. The thousand different ways someone could take such an ominous statement all roared through his brain at one time. He had not heard that before. That was new. If the Reaper's were already here, then.. Shepard's brain lurched. What was going on in the universe that nobody was aware of? More importantly, _**how **_could nobody know of it?

"While you sit and rot, everything around you slowly gives way to our end. We have set forth the motions that will bring about the end, Shepard. The Krogan will be the first to bend to us, but not the last."

The Krogan? Of all the races they could start this on, the Krogan? Why? Shepard's mind raced with possible questions but his voice was caught in his throat, unable to speak out in anger, confusion or any possible question to Harbinger's statement of destruction. He needed to go. He needed to go to Tuchanka. Something was happening there and he needed to know what and how to stop it. If the Krogan were screwed already, or if Wrex was gone.. Was his plan lost already?

"The galaxy will be bathed in our red light. There is nothing you can do. It has already begun."

Shepard moved towards it. With what motive? He didn't even know. He couldn't swat it out of the air or tell it to shut up and expect it to listen. He just had to get closer to it in some way.

Actually. Could he swat it out of the air?

He never got the chance to answer the question. As soon as he got in proximity the ground below him yanked him. It was as though hands had grabbed his knees and yanked him to the ground. Feebly grasping at ledges that weren't there, he felt a familiar falling sensation. Wind roaring into him, eyes wide. The scenery wasn't changing though. Darkness was still darkness. The falling sensation culminated into his throat and for a brief moment, he didn't really know what to do. Should he scream? Should he yell? Should he sit here and fall into whatever surface the world decides to put in-front of him?

No. He couldn't do that. He didn't have much choice, but he could still defy it in his thoughts. He never even got a chance to get the ring and propose.

Reapers.

_**They're here. **_

Tuchanka.

Wrex.

…

Why did everything look so.. red?

Prison?

* * *

Shepard's eyes opened. A gasp to fill his lungs with air again. A few quick breaths to make sure he could breath right. Confused and dazed, his head swung to the left and right to suck in his surroundings. He could see. He could see trash. Dirty steel. A giant piece of steel in-front of him, blocking his view of whatever else was in wherever he was. Voices. Hushed voices. He couldn't make out what they were saying. His head was still swirling, still trying to fathom where he was, where Harbinger was. Where was Tali? Mordin? Everyone?

"Oh." Shepard groaned. The info hit him like an anvil. He was in prison. Not in a cell.

Those voices sounded like they were cheering for some reason.

Shepards legs didn't agree with his thought process, refusing to let his body rise. Between the mind-numbing headache and his own confusion he wasn't sure what to put the blame on. He found himself slowly wishing he would just go back to sleep. His head lazily dropped to the side, looking at the side that he could remember Tali cuddling up to. That was a really nice dream, at first. Recalling the aftermath of his surgery. And then...

How had he ended up asleep anyway?

Shepard's head scanned his surroundings, trying to put together the memories on how he had ended up back here in the first place. Nothing set in at first, just confused eyes scanning around a bunch of crap everywhere that was shielding him from the voices that he could hear outside. He remembered people yelling, threatening to put him in stasis. Guards. A chick that really, _really _didn't like him smacking him in the head with a gun. Then.. the stasis turned off. The guards didn't do it at purpose.. no. They were all confused. Everyone was. The prisoners were free. Everything turned into chaos. Some prisoners went wild. Like dogs. Killed other prisoners and guards alike.

And there he was in the middle of it all in a stasis chamber. Someone was yelling for him. It was.. big. A krogan. A krogan that knew who he was and wasn't happy about it. The prisoners broke into an Armory the guards had. Got weaponry. The Krogan bossed people around. Chased him.

Fuzzy.

He didn't remember anything after that. Asleep. Dreaming about Tali, Harbinger and-

"Tuchanka.." Shepard said slowly. What he saw finally sank in. He needed to get out. He hoped that he wouldn't have to explain to his team that he was going back to the Krogan homeworld on a simple dream. He couldn't explain that. No way.

It wasn't a simple dream. It was far too real. If that light hadn't said something so confidently outside Shepards mind recall, sure. Maybe. No.. that was a threat. Arrogance in the form of confidence. Born out of the destruction of trillions.

"_**Feel like talking yet?" **_A krogan voice growled.

Shepard was glad he finally could make out the words. Now to see where he was! His body responded to him, achingly spreading the leg muscles to let him rise on his own power. He leaned in to the object in-front of him, not too sure through slightly blurred vision and a pounding headache what it was, just trying to listen to the voices of people. Prisoners or guards? Unknown.

"_**So. Nobody has seen you. Nobody living right now has any idea who you are exactly. So why don't you come clean and tell me what you're doing here?" **_The krogan voice growled again. Murderous intent.

Someone was being interrogated. Someone not native to the prison. He pushed into the object a little harder, pressing his back into the steel, inching his way to the edge. He was curious on who in there right mind would com in to this hellhole just for a vacation?

The answer hit him before he even saw.

"Why don't you go ahead and keep looking around the prison for me, okay? I don't see who I came here to see. Being useless might be your thing, but we can change it."

A female voice.

A _familiar _female voice.

"No way.." Shepard said with a half laugh. Hysterical feelings washed through him. He couldn't believe that. No. Good or bad, he wasn't sure yet, but a familiar face would be amazing. This prison was hell. The last person he expected to see was here. He was pressed as hard as he could press against the metal. In the back of his mind, he wondered if she would even recognize him without the black hair? Either way, this situation was insane now.

"What the hell are you doing here, Kasumi?"

* * *

So.

**_WHO'S CONFUSED?_**

Damn right you are. Working as intended. Love all of you for convincing me to keep writing. Seriously.

Also, because of the positive feedback, I am going to announce this rather premmaturely:

_**Mass Effect: The Price of a Paragon.**_

This will be the second saga of our favorite semi-hero Clyde Shepard. Already got it laid down. Just need to finish this though. Keep readin'!_**  
**_


	9. A Captain's Creed

_**Grand Return!**_

Well, it's been a long time hasn't it everyone? Now, before you ask why it has taken me months to add to this chapter, a few reasons. I actually had the next chapter pretty much made in its entirety, but I had to get a new hard-drive due to an amazing amount of computer fail. So, I lost it. Also, with all the details being released about Mass Effect 3, I wasn't sure if I should keep this going. I mean, who'd read a ME3 Story that's going to be about thirty miles off?

I'm still not sure, really. Due to boredom, however, I don't see a reason. If this is well-liked and people want me to keep going on writing this, I will. If not, well, shit. I'm not sure what else I'll write if write at all, truth be told. Anyway, moving on!

* * *

_**Chapter 8: A Captain's Creed**_

Containment-7.

So. Let's get this completely straight here. Containment-7. It.. may be the worst place you can imagine. You could notice about thirty different things wrong with the staff and the prison fortitude in its entirety by simply walking in the damn place. The walls were covered in a rather disturbing mixture of grime and blood.

How blood got on the said walls? Who the hell knows. All the equipment in the entire place was ragged and crap, making Shepard honestly question whether the council honestly intended to keep him locked up. The stasis fields that were used to keep prisoner's who started fights (like Jack's jail) were complete garbage. It took them much longer to actually keep the prisoner in the stasis. More than that; Shepard had seen the stasis fields break and short out more than just a few times. It almost seemed like a cruel joke. Yeesh. He was the hero of the citadel and all that, wasn't he? They didn't even take him seriously enough to give him a prison with a working way to go to the bathroom? Not only that, it was damn laughable looking at the quality of the weapons the guards carried. You could pick up rocks and throw them and have more killing force then most of them. He even remembered thinking, ironically, that if a riot broke out the prisoner's would be better off.

Damn it all.

"_**You have a long of fucking nerve, you know. You are clearly a god damn break-in. You are clearly not supposed to be here. You are interrupting our operation and you're asking us to find someone? If he's not with us, he's dead."**_

"Oh, I really doubt any of you would be able to kill him." Kasumi chipperly replied. The face on the human prisoner was priceless. Shepard fought the urge in his stomach to laugh.

That wasn't all though. Containment 7 didn't just have shitty equipment. It had _seriously _shitty staff. The guards just had to make it known they knew him. Not just once, but several times every single day. They knew who he was, what he's done, why he's in jail. He could have sworn he had heard them talking about trying to kill him. Shepard had interrupted one of these conversations, yelling that it wouldn't be good for this jails image of the savior of the hero of the citadel suddenly showed up dead. They pretended that they had no idea what he was talking about, though. Course' they did. Either way, the staff hated him. Really hated him. Each guard probably wanted about fifty bullets in him. Give or take a few depending. The one girl he had insulted probably wanted to unload the entire armory in him. Really. Who was honestly expecting her to _actually _have daddy issues?

Stupid.

"_**Stop looking at me with that god damn stupid smile! Looking down at me like that.. I won't accept it. I really will pull this trigger."**_

"Come on, silly. We both know that if you were gonna kill me you would have done that the second I showed up. Why don't you put the gun down and just help me find him?"

"_**Ghrnk! ...What? Wha- I'm in fucking jail! Why do you think I won't kill you?"**_

"The way your holding your gun looks like you've never held one before. I bet you've ordered people to kill for you, haven't you?"

"_**Grk...!"**_

And.. the last beautiful thing about the heaven that was Containment-7. The god damn prisoner's. If he were to say they had 'screws loose' he would probably worry about offending people who were only missing screws. He had been in more arguments with crazy people than he ever had in his lifetime. That said a lot too; Look at how many times he had argued with the council. Needless to say, the prisoner's hated him. Did he care? Not really, but it made things quite uncomfortable. It always turned into something if he came within just a few feet of a fellow prisoner. One specifically. That really, _really _big Krogan that hated him. He was a riot. Named Shepard 'Whitey' because of his hair color that changed in his stay at Containment-7. Clever guy. Either way, in between attempted murder by the prisoner's on more than one occasion, things never really had a bright side to them.

Now that the descriptions out of the way, _**why the fuck is Kasumi here?**_

Small black clothing? Check.

Mischievous grin despite the seriousness of a situation? Check.

Horrible habit of making things worse? Definitely check.

Yep. That was Kasumi.

Definitely. Completely. Totally.

…

**WHY IS THAT KASUMI!**

No. No. This makes _no _sense. Yeah. That's it. Suddenly the lights were gonna go off and stupid harbinger is gonna waltz in all; 'Shepard, I'm gonna explain in maximum monotone on how exactly the Reaper's are better than you' and _then _he'll wake up in a cell. Yeah. That was the only thing that could possibly happen. Just then, another prisoner walked into the room. He looked.. kind of scared. Afraid. Like death himself had delivered his judgement on him.

"**Oi! **Boss! Krux says that a small gang of people are on Containment. He needs us to keep moving with the plan. He isn't sure what these new people want or what the objectives are." He said a bit hoarsely. It looked like it took all his courage to say it without stuttering.

Krux. Shepard looked for the name in his brain for a second and came up empty. However, the guy must either be very big or very angry. Or possibly both. The prisoner looked like he was on deaths row.

"_**Grr..." **_he said, still attempting to murder Kasumi with an evil eye. "Fine, **Fine! **Krux did get us out of this prison I guess. Someone kill the bitch and let's move on-"

"Huh?" Kasumi said absent-mindedly. "That was us, actually."

…

Shepard planted his face so hard in his palm he was worried that the room would have heard him. He felt a headache from the sheer force of impact of his forehead meeting his hand. She.. really couldn't shut up, could she? And what was she even talking about? Shepard remembered being put into stasis for trying to break out. That much was easy. However, when he was released, the prison looked like a war-zone. It wasn't just him released. Every prisoner with higher body counts then countries were on the loose. Made a lot of sense. Keep the worst possible prisoner's in the shittiest jail. Proper intelligence, as shown by the council many times. He pushed a bit closer to the slab of steel he was hiding behind, listening to what was said next.

"Yeah. See, we were trying to disable the security in here and then break in, see? Apparently when we did that, you all started a riot and we couldn't get in anymore because they tightened up the outside too much. Funny how that works, eh?" Kasumi explained non-nonchalantly.

Well. That would explain a lot. He woke up from the stasis rather confused. And up-on waking up discovered _ every other _prisoner supposed to be contained being released. He didn't really pay attention to much of the yelling, truth be told. He was more worried about keeping a safe distance between bullets and his brain. So.. if he heard this right, it wasn't just Kasumi. She.. said we. 'We. Meaning; More than one person. Possibly several. Possibly a ship full.

Possibly with one very special Quarian. One very special asshole Turian. And what should have one very, very _problematic _thief.

He had to fight down the urge to laugh. They were here. If he heard it right, they were here. Right outside the prison? Maybe even in the prison already. Did it matter? He could hug Tali again. Laugh with her again. God, prison sucked. The thought of impending release from prison gave him a great surge of happiness. Part of him felt that he should probably handle this vastly more maturely and way more composed.

The other part of him thought that was stupid.

If this was even a fraction of what she felt when he died.. he shook his head. No. He was grieving. Happy thoughts, Shepard. Happy thoughts. He took a deep breath, desperately trying to enter a serious mode and kick the happy out of his brain to no avail.

"_**So..." **_The man hissed with a crew laugh. "_**It was you and some of your friends that let us out?"**_

"Hmmmm.."

No, Kasumi. Don't. Do not. Please don't.

"I guess you can look at it that way!"

**DAMNIT!**

"**_Well, I guess we should thank you then, shouldn't we?" _**He said with a rather menacing laugh. He gestured his head towards her and turned his back. That was it, wasn't it? Shepard looked over Kasumi's shoulder to see another prisoner pulling out a pistol. He was aiming down the sights. Kasumi, still as happy as ever, looked at the back of the man leaving seemingly oblivious to the murder being plotted behind her. Guess it was time for his flashy entrance then? He grinned, clenching his hands into fists and forcing biotic power to condense in his core.

Flashy. Stylish. Biotic charge two feet behind Kasumi into the guy with the gun. Charge again to the leader and turn him into jelly. Send out a shock-wave after and get rid of the clump of prisoner's before they even know what happens.

You're a genius, Shepard!

Except..

Kasumi was gone. The gun was pointing at empty space. Did he miss it when he was fantasizing? He ducked back under the metal. They didn't see anything, thank god. She ruined his damn entrance. Just like that. In the back of his mind, he knew that he probably should be more happy about the situation considering the situation, but hell! It was _such _a good opportunity! He growled a bit, but shrugged it off. Guess he'd have to take care of the goon squad here before she showed up. Guess it was flashy in its own way. Just as he stood up over the metal, ready to unleash his own brand of hell on these goons, the big one had laughed. Oh, and it was not a good laugh. Shepard couldn't even help but thing it was cheesy because of how evil it sounded. An omni-tool popped up on his wrist.

And then, Kasumi appeared. Electricity ran over her body, a tidbit of painful cries through clenched teeth hit his ears. Shepard, for what felt like the hundreth time, ducked back behind the metal, new seriousness in his eyes. Now.. that was bad.

He had seen tons of people try and break Kasumi's stealth. And.. it's never worked. So, some random prisoner in a random prison now more advanced technology then he's seen? He looked over at Kasumi. The smile wasn't there anymore. Wasn't fear, either. She was simply confused. Someone just pressed a button and screwed over her whole strategy. Crap. This wasn't good.

"_**Stealth's in the old-days, sweeth-heart." **_He hissed. **_"I always love seeing the look of confusion on someone's face right before they die."_**

And on that note, it was about time to stop this. Shepard brought all the energy to his core again. He felt his body flex and stretch at the biotic energy growing more volatile every second. He stretched out his right arm behind him, clenching it into a tight a fist as possible.

"_**I bet you're wondering; How does a prisoner have such an advanced omni-tool? When did they develop such technology? Oh well. This whole thing has been tiresome."**_

"Ya' damn right it has." Shepard said outloud.

Everyone turned around just in time to see a white-haired ball of blue power surging towards them with every intent of causing harm. Shepard's fist found the side of the head of the leader, sending him into the wall with such force that the impact sounded more like a bomb. Shepard had underestimated his strength. He was wobbling. He crashed into the same wall he sent the leader into. He felt a dull thunk against his head, reaching up and petting the spot his head met the wall due to his own adrenaline. It seems everyone else was too shocked and confused to shoot him. He slowly started to stand-up, looking at the thoroughly happy and now amused face of Kasumi, grinning apologetically. No time for that though. Bullets.

Bullets are bad for the complexion.

They had gained there senses back. Deadly bullets peppered on him. He sent up a biotic barrier, tightening the energy as much as he could. He clenched his fists together, gathering and tightening the energy before unleashing another charge towards the cluster. However, he once again went much too fast and couldn't get his fist thrown in time, so he ended up sending his left shoulder into the solar-plexis of one very unfortunate man. Not exactly what he had intended, but it'll do. He grabbed the poor man's pistol off the floor, pulling it up and taking fire at the group of criminals peppering bullets at him. He managed to smack the shoulder and chest of one, but it took him only a few shots to realize this was bad.

He was never good at aiming. He was now just down-right terrible at it.

He swore, realizing this was fruitless. He grabbed the gun by the handle, throwing it with all his might at the nearest person. It hit him directly in the fore-head, getting a cry from Shepard. Come on. He can randomly throw the gun at hit something but he can't shoot it?

Two of them had made it beside him. He felt his barrier groan as bullets hit it, but he ignored it. He reached back before unleashing a biotic shockwave at them. It roared through the air, desperately swinging its energy forwards in order to destroy the people Shepard wanted gone. It tore into them, flinging them roughly into the air and swung down in a painful thump.

Or.. it would have, had it not fizzled out right in-front of there feet.

They.. weren't.. that far away! What the hell? Shepard pushed his teeth together. His barrier wouldn't hold for very much longer with all this gun-fire. He started to push the energy into his core again, running at the two with his arm outstretched, ready to sink his fist into the nearest head.

_**BANG!**_

They and everything else around him was absorbed by a bright light. He covered his eyes, letting out a groan of massive irritation. A flash-bang grenade? Really? Before he could even comprehend who would have something like that in jail, he heard the very obvious sound of prisoner's squeeling in pain. The dull thunk of a gun smacking against someones head. Sometimes a fist. Sometimes a gunshot. Hell, sometimes both. He cringed at the sudden assault at his eyes, desperately shaking his head to rid himself of the glare. He slowly opened a crack of his eyes, taking in the scenery. The last few guards were now spread around the room in the most uncomfortable fashion he could immagine.

"Nothin' to it, maam." He said.

"I didn't say anything, you know."

"You were thinking it."

"I was actually thinking what happened to your gorgeous black hair!" Kasumi replied with a laugh.

"What? It's now gorgeous white hair. And beside's, is that really what you say to your _savior?" _Shepard said with mock-offense. "I'll have you know that you would be dead in every other world beside's this one."

"Because this one has Commander Shepard in it?"

"Because this one has Commander Shepard in it!"

Shepard let out a laugh. The first genuine laugh he had let out in a long time. Oh how it good it was to laugh. He walked a few steps towards her, Kasumi leaping onto him, giving him a tight but brief hug which he gladly returned. He smirked down at her.

"I take it thing's have been rough?" Shepard mused.

"No, not really. I think Miranda likes being Commander, actually." Kasumi said with a shrug.

"Well, that can't be good."

"Better than you'd think."

"I find it hard to disagree, actually." Shepard said. "You are still exhausting to talk to."

"I think it's part of my charm."

"I think it's part of your charm too, but that doesn't change the fact that I feel like I OD'd on sleeping medication after I'm done with you." Shepard said.

He looked towards the exit hall. The long, straight hall-way. It was a bit hard to take in, actually. They had all came to rescue him. He couldn't really put a finger on exactly what the feeling was, but it felt a lot like relief. He even felt a tang of disappointment; He kind of wanted to escape himself and surprise them. He could almost see it; Desperately commandeering a ship, flying over to the Citadel and putting on the best impression of.. well, someone. They'd let him dock; Brand new Shepard. Cheering. Surprise. All the good stuff. However, alas. Wouldn't happen. Either way, he fought down the urge to cheer once again and nodded over to Kasumi, gesturing towards the exit.

"Time to go, eh?"

"Mhm!" Kasumi responded brightly. He felt.. rather warm. Kasumi. He felt like giving her a nickname spontaneously. Was there something that fit her that would be catchy?

"Shepard?"

Something.. short. To the point. Something that would make someone laugh.

"Shepard. You know, I'm not one for ruining moments, but.. this is a bit of an emergency."

Couldn't be too long. Then it'd just be annoying.

"Sheparrrrd.. Now!"

"Huh?"

"We need to go. We need to run. We need to do anything that involves us getting off this ship in the fastest way possible."

Shepard gave her a confused look. They had just taken out the prisoner's, hadn't they? What else was there to screw them over? He span in a circle, looking for any awake enemies or mech's that were going to shoot him, but like he thought, there was none. Nothing. So, that left him a few choices of thought. Either she knew something he didn't, or there was another group of prisoner's. Or both.

He had a bad feeling again.

"Why run?"

Kasumi's smile grew as though someone had caught her stealing and she was trying to charm her way out of it. Shepard got a bit more worried.

"Well! The security's only disabled for a short period of time, see? And this prison, apparently, has a.. what did he call it? Oh, a 'Emergency Procedure Detonation' if a riot was to ever break out. It's turned off now, but.. well, it's coming back on."

…

Shepard's face contorted as he felt all the air in his lungs leave before he could even think.

"_**THERE'S A GOD DAMN BOMB ON THIS SHIP!' **_Shepard roared.

"That's one way of looking at it, I suppose." Kasumi replied.

Was there another way of looking at it? He let out a groan. Is that why the council put him here? To make sure that if they tried to break him out he and the rest of the waste in this prison would get turned into smoke? No.. no. That was too malicious, even for the council. Something didn't make sense here. However, every second he sat there thinking why someone would attempt to blow him up, he was getting closer to actually _being _blown up.

Explosions. Also bad for the complexion.

"We couldn't disable it?"

"Nope."

"And it's for sure coming back on?"

"Yep."

"And you didn't mention this right away because...?"

"I was interested in your hair."

This woman. God in heaven. If he wasn't standing on the floor of something about to be blown into cosmic smoke, he would probably explode into a fit of sarcastic rage. However, sarcastic rage takes time. Time that would much rather be spent _running._

"Alright. So. We should run then."

"Yep."

Shepard felt every single cell in his body push all its energy towards his legs. He almost wanted to just start biotic charging down the corridor, but the thought of running into something sounded painful. That could hurt his legs. His legs were making him run. Running was a very good thing. Definitely a good thing. He gave one last look over his shoulder to make sure Kasumi was ready and then he nodded. He took off down the hall-way. He pounded the iron floor with every step he forced his body to take. This ship was, literally, a giant bomb. His head probably hadn't grasped that completely yet. Hopefully, he could get off the ship before that happened.

Off this ship. Off of it.

"How come you didn't seem so urgent until later?" Shepard yelled during his run over his shoulder.

"I wasn't too worry about it until you started daydreaming!"

"I'm sorry! I got caught up in the happy mood! I was trying to think of something funny!"

"Is that really the thing to do when there's a bomb on the ship?"

"Well, that's tr- _**HEY! **_I didn't know at the time!"

"Don't sweat the minor details!"

This.. this woman-

"It's the intruder's and Shepard! Stop them!"

What?

There were more! No. God damnit. Shepard didn't want to waste time with them. He was getting ready to stop, he slowed down his run to a trot, looking at the prisoner's holding gun's at him. He flexed his fingers a few times. Guess there was never a true break for breaking some knee caps.

"No! Shepard! Bomb! Bad guy's can wait!"

Sometime's though, even he could be wrong. Kasumi didn't waste any time with the bad guy's. At the same pace Shepard was just running at, she went right past him and the guy's pointing gun's. They were so focused on Shepard that they barely saw Kasumi, turning around to fire shots at her back that were all terribly aimed and way too unfocused to hit. This was his chance though. He filled his entire being with biotic energy, kicking off the floor and diving into them. It had stunned most of them and sent one flying. Using the momentum though, he kept his face forward and kept running down the hall-way. Most of them wouldn't be down for good.

However, Kasumi had gotten a huge lead on him. This ship seemed a lot bigger for some reason, running for his life in fear of dying in giant, fiery, bright glory.

Just as the thought to call out to Kasumi once more hit his head, it was roughly pushed out of it.

He didn't know if it was the sound of his bones breaking or simply the sound of his body being driven into the harsh wall of the prison, but his ears rang with loud, crashing the sound waves of suffering and pain of his body being driven way faster then it should be into the wall behind it across his ear-drums. He felt his consciousness sink into his stomach faster then any time before. It was either will or pride that kept it still attached, firmly clinging onto the pain that ran through his entire body. Keeping him awake to make him feel every single crying muscle that smashed against the wall.

He shook his head violently. He couldn't see at all. He only saw-

**Wow, it was big!**

He didn't know what the hell it was, but getting away seemed like a good idea. Especially considering it could apparently come _out of thin air. _He rolled underneath the gap between its legs as whatever it was sent a huge foot crashing down at the spot he was at. He felt the vibration of power that ran through the ground the metal underneath him. That would be very bad. No amount of pride was gonna keep him awake for that one. He roughly pushed himself up with the momentum of his rolling body, toppiling into the opposite wall. His vision was still blurry. He could only make out the silhouette of something very big.

However, the yelling of the prisoner's he had just charged into came into his ringing ears.

_Did anything ever go right?_

The monster was now sending a giant arm towards the spot he was at. It was slower then shit. His consciousness finally was starting to recover, blinking just a few more times to finally grasp his vision entirely.

It was a Krogan.

A _huge _Krogan.

Much bigger then any Krogan he had ever seen. It was at least a head bigger then Wrex. And wider, too. And the color.. it was.. it seemed like a shade of dark blue.

Details. They could wait.

His body ducked underneath the punch. He almost tripped from the enormous vibration that ran through the ship. This was insane. No way did he just simply not notice a being of this size. With a roar, the Krogan was sending it's knee towards Shepard's face. He grimaced, pushing off his feet and rolling towards the way he was running towards. The Krogan didn't waste a single, slow, bloodlust-induced movement. He barreled towards him as soon as he realized his knee was going to hit only the wall, instantly starting one of the infamous Krogan charges that his kind was known for. This.. however. He was getting into the peak of his charge way too fast.

So, what, it has the reflexes of a fucking cat too?

This.. No. He couldn't beat this thing with the pressure of a bomb in his head, the prisoner's coming, and being completely blindsided and hurt right at the god damn start. He needed to cripple it. This thing probably had ludicrous regeneration along with everything else, too, but he didn't have time to kill it. He gathered up as much biotic energy that his new amp would let his body handle, pushing it into his legs and rocketing himself off before the Krogan's charge could hit its peak. Shepard ground his teeth together. He didn't know what he was fighting here. There was a good chance that this thing could just send him barreling backwards, even with his new power.

It felt like he had been sent into a wall again. It almost felt like it had given almost no lee-way and kept charging at first, but sure enough, the Krogan had staggered backwards, briefly stunned from the shock of the impact.

He swung one of the longest, obvious rights he had ever thrown with all of his arm into it. He had struck the Krogan right in the jaw. It's head, despite it's strength, was thrown to it's right. Shepard knew he got all of that.

However, it didn't care in the slightest.

The Krogan instantly turned his head back, eyes full of rage, and if possible, even more of a desire to kill.

"You're shitting me."

Shepard immediately ducked the oncoming retaliation. He sent another punch towards jaw of his huge opponent, which also had the same effect as his huge right did.

Which didn't seem to be much.

Every single punch he through with all the biotic power that he could summon in each fist, the Krogan's head would whip back but his eyes only got angrier. He kept throwing these massive punches at him. He thanked whatever god was on his side that this thing wasn't smart enough to carry a gun. It didn't matter at this rate though. He couldn't keep fighting this thing. He was still enduring being trashed against the wall earlier. And even if he didn't, this ship was due to become a giant piece of fucking rubble soon. This was just a time-soak. He needed to get far enough away to get a big charge while he wasn't charging him, and somehow connect, yet this guy was too relentless and determined.

Just then, his savior.

In the form of beat-up-prisoner's.

"It's Shepard!"

He heard it. The cry of the prisoner's he had charged and blown away to get distance earlier. Normally, he would have thought this was a bad thing. However, this was the chance he had been looking for. His new amp. He didn't need to wait to charge anymore. He could instantly collect all the pressurized energy.

He grinned. Even the Krogan had turned around to look at the prisoner's coming from the hall-way. This was too perfect.

He pushed his power into his legs and rocketed off. The Krogan had turned around and started bracing himself, expecting Shepard to come crashing into him. Nope. Shepard launched right past him into the group of armed prisoner's, who were far too dumbfounded to stop it. He felt his shoulder hit one of the men in the chest, sending him far backwards. He didn't care about the rest though. He turned on his heel, grinning triumphently at the Krogan who was still turning around to catch Shepard charging towards the group behind him.

Before he realized it, Shepard was thundering through the air, his arm drawn all the way back. He let the swing go mid-charge. He was going to send this fist right into his damn head. The Krogan didn't have time to brace himself. He was sure of it. He had this! He just needed to knock him down! That was all! This would do it!

He felt his fist bend the flesh around the Krogan's jaw. The Krogan's head shot violently to the side. Shepard felt his fingers, even with the cybernetics, cry out in agony and pain. He was sure his fist was broken. His acceleration carried him towards the wall, using the shoulder he had punched with as cushion against the steel. He dropped to one knee almost instantaneously as soon as he felt his body stop. That didn't last long though. He immediately took off down the ship again as though this whole fight had never even happened.

He didn't turn around. He didn't even know if the Krogan had fallen. It had to be hurt though. There was no way it wasn't. His hand was burning and his legs were heavy, but he didn't care. If that didn't work there was no way Krogan was ever going to go down. And he sent his entire body roaring down the straight line of the ship for his salvation. His freedom.

Tali.

Garrus.

Wrex, you son of a bitch your weird cousin nearly broke me.

Hell, even Joker.

God damn, even Kelly.

He was going to come boss every single one of you around just like the old times. And there was no way some overgrown muscled blueberry was going to fuck with him for that. How long was this damn ship?

"**SHEPARD!'**

That.. was a voice he didn't want to hear.

Stunned by what he had heard, he had to stop. His eyes opened to there peaks. He didn't want to turn around. No. If he.. if he heard that. That was a Krogan's voice.. yet.. it seemed mixed with something. Mechanical. As though it's voice-box was instead computer-generated. Yet it still conveyed anger pretty damn well. No. There couldn't be a way that Krogan was standing. And could _talk._ He didn't want to find out. No, there's damn well no way he planned on finding out either way. Why had he stopped! He cursed himself. If he died now, he would damn deserve it for being so stupid. After everything that has ever happened to him, why the hell would he doubt a Krogan with a weird voice!

Stupid, stupid, stupid!

"Shepard!"

That voice, however, was something he definitely wanted to hear. He ran forward. And.. it was almost instantaneous. He didn't realize how close he had been to the exit! There, Kasumi was, in-front of the air-lock. She was waving him over, desperately calling him to come. However, she must have seen whatever was behind him, because she instantly didn't seem too amused.

"**I DON'T KNOW, AND I DON'T CARE, JUST GO!" **Shepard roared. Kasumi seemed to let out a nod. The airlock was opening. He couldn't tell of Kasumi was talking to someone over a radio, or if she was so nervous at whatever the hell was chasing him that she was simply bouncing up and down like a maniac. But, it didn't matter. The door was open. Shepard heard the footsteps of whatever was behind him getting louder and louder. Block it out! Just go!

GO!

**GO!**

Shepard put every single ounce of strength into a last desperate dive towards the exit. That was it. His legs refused to move anymore either way. From being dominated by a Krogan and shitty prison food making a mockery of his physical state, he couldn't keep that up. This was as bad as the collector base. He felt his stomach hit the floor. And that was it. His eyes were closed. He heard a door closing. He heard a girl screaming.

And.. before he finally gave in and let the fatigue set in, he swore he heard something.. else.

Cheering.

* * *

This is probably a bit rough considering I haven't been writing in a really long time. So for all the typo's and the inevitably shitty action sequences I know I am terrible at writing, I apologize. :P

Anyway! Thank you everyone if you want to see this. I'll see if I should keep writing this if the support is good or not. I'm still not sure with the fact that Mass Effect 3 is coming out soon. (Yay pre-ordered!) But, I don't know. We shall see.

I hope my suck from not writing for so long didn't tarnish anything!

Req out.


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